Expatica news

Taleban kill Belgian aid worker

3 June 2004

BRUSSELS – A Belgian woman was among five aid workers killed when Taleban loyalists attacked their convoy in north-western Afghanistan, it was reported on Thursday.

The five victims – the Belgian woman, a Dutch man, a Norwegian man and two Afghans – all worked for the medical charity Medecins sans Frontiers (Doctors without borders), which has since suspended its operations in Afghanistan.

Afghan officials blamed the country’s former rulers, the Taleban, for the attack.

“Two guys on a motorbike approached the car head on, stopped the bike and opened fire,” local police chief Amir Shah Naibzada told French news agency AFP.

“It is not the work of robbers or thieves. One hundred percent we are sure this is the work of Taleban and al-Qaida,” he added, referring to the network run by Osama Bin Laden.

The Taleban have confirmed that they were behind the killings, the BBC reported on its website.

Reacting to the news from Afghanistan, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel branded the attack “repugnant”.

“I find the act of committing an attack against humanitarian workers repugnant especially as these people have volunteered to work in extremely difficult conditions in Afghanistan,” Michel said in a statement.

Michel also sent his condolences to the families of all of the victims.

Afghan President Hamid Karmai called the attack, “very unfortunate.”

“This is a very, very sad incident, we are very sorry about this,” he said.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news