On Saturday, news broke that in Afghanistan, ten members of a medical team -- six Americans, a Briton, a German and four Afghans -- were shot and killed by militants as they were returning home from a remote aid mission:
Gunmen Kill Medical Aid Workers in Afghanistan.
The gunmen marched them into the forest, stood them in a line and shot 10 of them one by one.
The police found their bodies, seven men and three women, on Friday, the Badakhshan Province police chief, Gen. Aqa Noor Kentoz, said Saturday.
The attack, the largest massacre in years of aid workers in Afghanistan, offered chilling evidence of the increasing insecurity in the northern part of the country and added to fears that the insurgency has turned even more vicious in recent months.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killings, accusing the group of being spies and Christian missionaries. Pressured in their traditional strongholds in the south and east by NATO’s growing concentration of forces there, the insurgents have become more active in areas once relatively quiet, like Badakhshan Province.
Among those killed was Dr. Karen Woo, a 36-year-old surgeon from London who worked for the aid organization Bridge Afghanistan:
UK medic Karen Woo named as Afghanistan shooting victim. She had anticipated that her expedition would be dangerous:
Dr Woo, who was planning a documentary, wrote on the charity's forum: "For the last few months I've been working with a small team of journalists and filmmakers as part of Bridge Afghanistan to put together a plan for the documentary I envisioned."
Dr Woo, who was the took the role of general physician in the team of medics, had been running mother and child clinics in Nuristan. She had been trekking for over three weeks as part of an expedition into the mountains, she wrote in a blog last month.
She added: "The expedition will require a lot of physical and mental resolve and will not be without risk but ultimately, I believe that the provision of medical treatment is of fundamental importance and that the effort is worth it in order to assist those that need it most."
It's a stunning tragedy. Dr. Woo was actually engaged to be married later this month. More on her here:
Briton among medics killed in Afghanistan. And here:
British surgeon among 10 medics executed in Afghanistan. And here:
The death of my friend Karen.
