Gunmen execute 8 in Afghanistan
POSTED: 2:23 a.m. EDT, October 20, 2006
cnn.com
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Gunmen ambushed a car carrying Afghan civilians working for a remote U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan and killed eight of them execution-style, a police official said Friday.
The victims, who worked for the U.S. military as laborers in the mountainous Korangal area of Kunar province, were killed Thursday while driving home from work, said Abdul Saboor, Kunar's deputy police chief.
Gunmen stopped the workers' car, searched them and took about $6,000 before gunning them down, said Salehzai Didar, Kunar's governor. Two workers escaped, he said.
"This was a shocking attack against these poor people," Saboor said.
Saboor did not identify the attackers, other than to describe them as "the enemy."
Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents operate in eastern Afghan regions bordering Pakistan.
This year, Afghanistan has faced the deadliest spate of violence in the country since the ouster of the Taliban regime by U.S.-led forces five years ago, as newly deployed NATO troops have battled resurgent militants. |
