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Taliban Ambush Kills Aid Workers, Driver in Afghanistan

DW staff (jen)August 13, 2008

Three aid workers with the International Rescue Committee and their Afghan driver were shot to death Wednesday in central Afghanistan, police said.

https://p.dw.com/p/EwGh
Aerial view of Kabul
The IRC aid workers were headed for KabulImage: Pahjwok Afghan News

The aid workers, all women, and their local driver were killed in the Qalah Rahmat area of Puli Alamas as they were travelling in a car towards Kabul.

Police said the workers were citizens of Ireland, Canada and the United States. Police have been deployed to the area to track down the attackers, who appear to have escaped from the area.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Taliban fighters had killed three foreigners.

Group warns of effect on aid to Afghanis

"One of the enemy's vehicles was destroyed by a rocket-propelled-grenade shot, killing three foreigners, but the other vehicle managed to escape from the area," Mujahid told dpa news agency.

"This is an outrage," said Peter Biro, spokesman for the International Rescue Committee, or IRC, in Vienna. The group helps people fleeing conflict and persecution.

"This is going to make the ability of aid workers to provide vital and essential services in Afghanistan much harder."

The IRC has said it will suspend work in the region indefinitely.