Clinton slams Taliban killing of aid workers

WASHINGTON:

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has slammed the Taliban-claimed killing of 10 aid workers in Afghanistan.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday slammed the Taliban-claimed killing of aid workers in Afghanistan, including six Americans, as a "despicable act of wanton violence."

"The Taliban has proudly claimed responsibility for this despicable act of wanton violence," Clinton said in a statement. "We are heartbroken by the loss of these heroic, generous people. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this senseless act," she said.

"We also condemn the Taliban's transparent attempt to justify the unjustifiable by making false accusations about their activities in Afghanistan".

Eight foreign medical aid workers have been shot dead in the remote forests of north Afghanistan, their charity said on Saturday as the Taliban claimed it killed them for being "Christian missionaries".

The bullet-riddled bodies of five men, all Americans, and three women, an American, a German and a Briton, were found in the northeastern province of Badakhshan on Friday, said the provincial police chief.

Two Afghans were also killed and two survived. They were part of a 12-member team of volunteer medics returning from a medical camp in neighbouring Nuristan province said International Assistance Mission (IAM) director Dirk Frans.

Despite the Taliban claim, Frans said police had told him that robbery was the likely motive for the killings. Frans said the group had been driving through the Badakhshan province, where there have been few insurgent attacks.

"They were killed on their way back. They had no guns and no security because we come at the communities' invitation and they take care of us," Frans told AFP. "The last call we had was on Wednesday evening.... There has never been any threats against us. If there were threats, we would not have gone," he said, adding that the organisation would continue its activities.

The Taliban later claimed responsibility. "Yesterday at around 8:00 am, one of our patrols confronted a group of foreigners. They were Christian missionaries and we killed them all," said Zabihullah Mujahed, a spokesman for the Taliban.

Frans denied the Taliban's claim that the group carried Bibles in the local language Dari.