AFGHANISTAN:THREE WESTERN women working for an American aid organisation have been shot dead in an ambush in Afghanistan.
The women, a British-Canadian, a Canadian and a Trinidadian, were travelling by car in the eastern Logar province when they were attacked yesterday morning.
All three worked for New York-based aid group International Rescue Committee (IRC), which has suspended its aid programmes in Afghanistan indefinitely.
George Rupp, president of IRC, said in a statement: "We are stunned and profoundly saddened by this loss . . . Words are inadequate to express our sympathy for the loved ones of the victims and our devoted team of aid workers."
The attack, which was later claimed by the Taliban, is a new escalation in the country's violence. President Hamid Karzai said it was "unforgivable".
"It is not in our culture to kill women. Afghans never kill women," he said. "This unforgivable incident, without any doubt, was carried out by enemies of Afghanistan, by non-Afghans."
Abdullah Wardak, governor of Logar, said the women were travelling from Gardez to Kabul when their two vehicles were fired at by five gunmen. An Afghan driver was also killed, the other seriously injured. Kai Eide, the United Nations special envoy in Afghanistan, said he was "shocked".
"I condemn this act and urge the authorities to leave no stone unturned in the search for the perpetrators," he said.
Local aid workers have been regular targets of insurgents who aim to halt development work that might help the fragile government build its authority in rural areas. Some 19 Afghans working for NGOs have been killed this year.
A Taliban spokesman, Zahibullah Mujahed, was reported to have claimed responsibility for the incident, saying a "military convoy" had been attacked.
Violence in Afghanistan has reached its worst level since the end of the Taliban regime in 2001. - ( Guardian service)