Suspected Taliban militants stormed the office of an Afghan relief organization early Sunday, killing three workers and wounding four police officers in a pre-dawn shootout, officials said. Police said six vehicles carrying about 30 gunmen raced up to the office of the Voluntary Association for the Rehabilitation of Afghanistan in Delaram, a town in southwestern Nimroz province, early Sunday. "A cook, a night watchman and another employee were asleep in the first room," Najamuddin Mojaddedi, the group's regional head, told The Associated Press. "The Taliban shot them dead." Another watchman was missing, Mojaddedi said. "The Taliban are just killing innocent people trying to help their country," Mojaddedi said. "I don't understand why they do this."
| Lemme try to explain this to you, Najamuddin. It's the nature of authoritarianism. When you don't do what they tell you to do, they try to kill you. When the Talibs were in power, they adhered to the same principle. Simple, huh? That's why the solution to the problem is to kill them right back. It's called self defense. |
Security forces who rushed to the scene Sunday fought the gunmen for about an hour. Four police officers were injured before the militants withdrew, deputy police chief Mohammed Rassoul said. It was unclear if the attackers suffered any casualties. The three fatalities were the first for aid workers in Afghanistan since Aug. 3, when two Afghans working for the German Malteser agency died in a hail of gunfire in southeastern Paktia province. |