The Hindu : International : Afghans on U.S. project shot dead

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Friday, May 20, 2005

International

International

Afghans on U.S. project shot dead

Man claiming to have abducted Italian aid worker in Afghanistan issues death threat

APPEAL FOR RELEASE: Afghan women protest against the kidnapping of Italian relief worker Clementina Cantoni, during a rally on Thursday at a CARE International food distribution centre in Kabul where Ms. Cantoni worked. — PHOTO: AP

KABUL: Suspected Taliban militants shot dead six Afghan employees of a U.S.-funded anti-drugs project in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the second fatal attack on its staff in two days, officials said. The victims were driving to Kabul with the body of one of five men killed on Wednesday when they were attacked in Zabul province's Shahjoy district, said Naik Mohammed, a doctor at a hospital in the town of Qalat where their bodies were taken. Rick Marshal, the Kabul spoksman for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said all six are believed to be employees of Chemonics International, a Washington-based consulting firm. The five killed on Wednesday were also employees of Chemonics, which is managing a USAID-sponsored project to provide alternative livelihoods to farmers growing opium, the raw material for heroin. Taliban-led militants have been active in Zabul province for last three years, despite intensive U.S. military operations.

No "imminent" threat

A man claiming to have abducted an Italian aid worker in Kabul threatened to kill her Thursday unless his demands were met, though Afghan officials said there was no imminent threat to her life.

``The deadline we had given yesterday runs out today at 10:00 am (0530 GMT) ... and we might kill her,'' an alleged abductor calling himself Temur Shah told AFP, speaking from kidnapped aid worker Clementina Cantoni's cell phone.

Shah, whose identity remains murky, could not be reached by phone and Ms. Cantoni's welfare was impossible to establish hours after the deadline ran out.

But Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said security officials were in contact with the kidnappers of the Italian aid worker and so far they believed that she was safe. It is unclear whether Shah has ties to Islamist militants. Ms. Cantoni (32) who works for CARE International, was dragged from her car by armed men in the Qala-e-Mosa district of Kabul on Monday evening.

Agencies

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