Foreign medics shot dead in north Afghanistan

KABUL, Aug 7, AFP Eight foreign medical aid workers have been shot dead in the remote forests of north Afghanistan, their charity said 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 that included eye doctors, a dentist, a general doctor and nurses, returning from a camp in neighbouring Nuristan province said International Assistance Mission (IAM) director Dirk Frans.

Frans said the group had been travelling in a four-wheel-drive vehicle through Badakhshan province, believing it to be safer.

"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.

"We have been working under the king, the communists and the Taliban, and they know what we do," he said.

Head of Badakhshan provincial police Aqa Noor Kintoz said the group had been lined up and shot in dense forest, according to the testimony of an Afghan survivor. 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.