You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Afghanistan/South Asia
Pakistan warns of suicide attacks
2004-06-06
Pakistani authorities have warned Western aid groups and the U.N. refugee agency to strengthen security against threats of Taliban attacks, officials said Saturday. The warning was directed to offices in southwestern Baluchistan province. Mullah Hashim Sagzai, a formerly unknown Taliban fighter now believed to live in a refugee camp in Baluchistan, was identified as the lead planner of suicide plots against the non-governmental organizations.
With any luck we'll only hear about him one more time.
"Only those NGOs (non-governmental organizations) will be targeted where U.S.-British nationals are working," said the Afghan Refugees Organization, a Pakistani government agency which is responsible for security at refugee camps in Baluchistan. The organization, which coordinates between aid groups and the provincial government, issue the warning in a letter Saturday to U.N. High Commissionioner for Refugees and five groups — U.S.-based Mercy Corps International, British-based Global Partner, Ireland’s Concern, the French Tear Fund, and the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia. Babar Baluch, an official of the UNHCR in Baluchistan, told The Associated Press that the agencies had ordered their employees not to report for work Monday as a security precaution and to await further orders. "Credible threats could hamper relief activities for Afghan refugees in the province," Baluch said. Officials from the other groups either refused comment or were not available.
"We will say no more!"
Aftab Jamal, assistant secretary at Pakistan’s Home Department, which controls provincial security, said intelligence information about the planned suicide attack prompted the alert. "Sometimes intelligence information is ignored, which increases dangers," Jamal told the AP. "Police have been informed to secure the movement of foreigners." Sagzai, the purported Taliban plotter, is believed to be living in a refugee camp in Girdi Jungle, about 125 miles west of Quetta near the Afghan border. The letter said his operatives were seeking access to the premises of the aid agencies. "In view of the above, you are requested that security ... may be beefed up to deter anti-social elements from carrying out their agenda," the letter said. "Strict vigilance is also warranted in this regard."

On Wednesday, five relief workers, including three foreigners, working for Medecins Sans Frontieres were killed. A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility. Medecins Sans Frontieres, known in English as Doctors Without Borders, suspended its operations in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, a U.S. military spokesman, Lt. Col. Tucker Mansager, said Saturday that U.S. commanders were "assessing that attack to see exactly what it means for our further troop deployment," but didn’t say if American forces would be sent to that area.
Posted by:Dan Darling

#2  4. Juni 2004

Medecins Sans Frontieres leaves Afghanistan

The relief organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) will close down its programme in Afghanistan for the time being, after a Norwegian doctor and four other MSF workers were killed in an ambush in the Badghis province on Wednesday.

The Norwegian doctor, Egil Kristian Tynaes (62), was on a four-month leave from his position as chief surgeon at a Bergen hospital, and he was killed on the last day of work in Afghanistan. It was his second assignment in Afghanistan for MSF.

Tynaes was married with five children.

Afghanistan's Prime Minister, Hamid Karzai, has condemned the ambush and the killings, and so has the United Nations.

Posted by: Anonymous5072   2004-06-06 6:50:28 AM  

#1  
On Wednesday, five relief workers, including three foreigners, working for Medecins Sans Frontieres were killed. A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility.

The Taliban is truly a wicked, evil organization, but it is admired by many Moslems. For example, it is zealously admired and praised by the staff of Jihad Unspun.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester   2004-06-06 12:55:52 AM  

00:00