Afghan Militants Kill 3 Aid Workers

Three Women, Including U.S. Citizen, Die In Bullet-Ridden SUV

(AP)  Taliban fighters with assault rifles shredded a U.S. aid group's SUV with dozens of bullets Wednesday, killing three Western women and their Afghan driver amid an escalating militant onslaught against humanitarian workers in Afghanistan.

The ambush of two clearly marked aid vehicles on the main road south of Kabul was the latest in a record number of attacks on aid groups this year — a surge that has workers questioning if they can safely provide services in remote and dangerous areas where help is most needed.

The group whose workers were slain, the New York-based International Rescue Committee, announced it was suspending its Afghan humanitarian programs indefinitely.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killings, saying its fighters attacked two vehicles of "the foreign invader forces."

"They were not working for the interests of Afghanistan and they belonged to those countries whose forces ... took Afghanistan's freedom," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in a phone call from an undisclosed location.

Mujahid called the women spies, a frequent Taliban accusation against its targets.

The aid group said the three women killed in Logar province were a dual Trinidadian-American citizen, a Canadian and a dual national British-Canadian.

"These extraordinary individuals were deeply committed to aiding the people of Afghanistan, especially the children who have seen so much strife," said George Rupp, president of the International Rescue Committee.

The women were driving from the eastern province of Paktia to Kabul in a white SUV marked with IRC stickers, said Abdullah Khan, deputy counterterrorism director in Logar.

Five men armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles stepped out of a village area and fired at the two aid vehicles, Khan said, citing a report from an Afghan IRC employee wounded in the second vehicle. The women's white SUV was hit by dozens of bullets, Khan said.

At the Pul-e-Alam hospital, IRC driver Abdurrahman Khan wept while helping load two of the victims' bodies onto the back of a truck.

"They were here helping Afghan people," he said. "They were not carrying weapons."

All four victims suffered multiple bullet wounds, Dr. Mir Mabub Shah said as three female Afghan nurses shrouded the three dead women in white cloth before putting them in wooden coffins.

With Wednesday's attack, at least 23 workers have been slain by militants in 2008, compared with 15 in all of 2007, according to a recent report from ANSO, a security group that works for aid organizations in the country.

ANSO said 2008 is on track to be the deadliest year for aid workers in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion ended Taliban rule in late 2001.

"The car was clearly marked. They were clearly not military personnel and this is a major concern not only to us but to all those who are in humanitarian community in Afghanistan," said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the United Nations mission in Afghanistan.

The International Rescue Committee has been working in Afghanistan for 20 years. In the 1980s, the group provided medical aid to Afghan refugees fleeing into Pakistan during the Soviet occupation.

Since the ouster of the Taliban's hard-line Islamic regime, the group has also been involved with the National Solidarity Program, a community-based development program funded by the World Bank through the Afghan government and implemented by international aid groups.

Anna Husarska, a senior policy adviser for IRC, wrote in an opinion piece for Los Angeles Times in May that insurgents are attacking all those seen as helping the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"Since they oppose the current government, they also oppose those who work with it," she wrote. "And unfortunately, they don't differentiate among armed multinational forces, security contractors and humanitarian groups."

Kai Eide, the top U.N. official in Kabul, called the assault a "cowardly attack."

"The IRC provides lifesaving humanitarian assistance to those most affected by the conflict and it is reprehensible that such selfless individuals working for the most vulnerable communities should be deliberately targeted," Eide said.

The International Rescue Committee provides emergency relief and rehabilitation and works for protection of human rights and post-conflict development in countries around the world, according to its Web site.

Two Afghan IRC staff members were shot to death in Logar in July 2007 while working on the National Solidarity Program. Despite rising violence in Afghanistan, the group said in July that it was carrying on with its projects but had to reduce the levels of its work.

In other violence, NATO issued a statement saying its troops killed an Afghan man who failed to stop his vehicle as he approached their patrol in southern Helmand province Tuesday.

A roadside bomb in the same province killed five police officers and wounded four Tuesday, said Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for province's governor.

More than 3,200 people have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on Western and Afghan officials.

[lazareth-2009]

I can''t believe they would kill 3 innocent people.

[petro49l]

Bin Laden argued that the killings of three social workers was necessary to eliminate common people. His tar heroin business is realizing a great profit. Osama said, "The region is for fields of poppies, not peasants". Bin Laden wants the Coalition out. Osama regards the region as his private opium fief.

[tootall10142]

if the popular opinion is that im one of the weak then i too should be faded out. Fair enough?

[tootall10142]

We need to release a virus upon this nation second only to the blackplague.Then start over with the oil under the control of the strong, the weak should be faded out.

[scottyusa]

The killing of innocents is what is going to bring these coward terrorists down. Just like it did in Iraq. The only amazing thing is how long it takes these countries to get tired of this murdering and take action. It took them 4 years in Iraq.

[trrrorislamx]

the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,,, inside job

the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personnel,,, inside job

the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel,,, inside job

the 1998 bombing of U.S . embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000,,, inside job

the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 39 U.S. sailors,,, inside job

talk is no substitute for action,,,

kkklowntoon just gave us the same old tired speech and did nothing else,,,

"We will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to find those who killed our sailors and hold them accountable."

yahhh right

In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt

[trrrorislamx]

DEMONIC-RATS DO NOT WANT SECRET BALLOTS,,,

For some, right to secret ballot could be lost
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/shared-blogs/ajc/thinkingright/entries/2008/08/13/right_to_vote_in_privacy_could.html

NEVER VOTE DEMONIC-RAT AGAIN,,,

THEY ARE FOR COMMUNISM,,,

Howard Stern vows never to vote for Democrat again due to merger opposition: ''They''re for Communism''...
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080724152511.aspx

some people are slow learners,,,

must be the DEMONIC-RAT controlled public education/propoganda system,,,

[trrrorislamx]

hmmmm is this a 3AM PHONE CALL MOMENT???

who do you really want answering the phone???

Hillary Clinton 3 am Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-VFA7L2RcE&feature=related

[trrrorislamx]

FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM IS THE PROBLEM,,,

DEMONIC-RAT HUSSEIN IS NOT THE SOLUTION,,,

EXPOSE HUSSEIN
http://www.exposeobama.com/obamaislam.html

www.obamatruth.org

www.stop-obama.org

A Video Portrait Of Barack Hussein Obama
http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?RsrcID=2036

The Barack Obama Test
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/02/the_barack_obama_test.html

Obama-Odinga-Rezko-Ayers-Auchi-Saddam Hussein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIe4d9Nmg9k

Raila Odinga was also financially backed by Muammar al-Gaddafi. Raila Odinga is Obama''s cousin:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/717...

Why does Raila Odinga use Obama''s exact same campaign slogan: CHANGE....Vote for CHANGE: Look at his website:
http://www.raila07.com/


IMPEACH HUSSEIN NOW,,,

SIGN THE PETITION

Impeach, expel Barack Obama
http://obamaimpeachment.org

HUSSEIN IS NO COMMANDER IN CHIEF,,, lol

McCain Tops Obama in Commander-in-Chief Test; Stays Competitive on Iraq

Poll Finds 72 Percent of Americans Say McCain Would be Good Commander-in-Chief
http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Politics/Story?id=5370538&page=1

Obama: Commander-in-(mis)chief?
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/imperium/2008/07/200872011345855233.html

[whiskyrokkr]

These taliban coward,scum,puzzy,camel jockey,woman beating pieces of human excrement all need to be exterminated with extreme prejudice.