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To: goldworldnet who wrote (202276)	11/14/2001 10:49:35 AM
From: goldworldnet	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Aid workers become human shield From The Daily Telegraph 14nov01 IMPRISONED Australian aid workers Diana Thomas and Peter Bunch could be used as human shields by the Taliban after they were bundled out of Kabul in a convoy of four-wheel-drives. The two Australians, plus four German and two American aid workers, were taken from the Afghan capital late on Monday night for the hazardous overland journey to Kandahar. The move to the Taliban's final stronghold came as Northern Alliance forces approached Kabul and has raised fears that the aid workers may be used as shields. Family members of the two Australians said the latest development added to their anguish. Senior Minister at the North City Pentacostal Church and close friend of the pair, John Finkelde, said family and friends were devastated. "Riding from Kabul to Kandahar is not the safest road trip in the world right now," he said. Ms Thomas's older sister Josephine Bailey was reluctant to comment on the development. "You're a human being, you must have some idea what it is like," she said. The move came as the first photographs emerged today of the dingy Kabul prison cells where the aid workers had been held hostage. The walls are a dirty, muddy gray. The bathroom was a hole in the ground, hidden by tattered pieces of burlap. Inside one cell were signs of a rushed escape, with suitcases still sitting on the steel bunk beds which served as a bedroom for the six women. They include two Americans, Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry; three Germans, Margrit Stebnar, Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf; and Ms Thomas. On a hanger, two socks that had been left to dry dangled from a top bunk. There were only four beds in the room. Cushions were placed on the floor against the wall, suggesting two of the women must have slept there. Their blankets were worn and tattered. One pink quilt was covered in patches. In a sandy courtyard, empty but for a pump in the centre, a black sweater was still wet and hanging on a clothes line. There were several plastic pots where it appeared the women had washed their clothes. The two men - George Taubmann, from Germany, and Mr Bunch - had been given a separate room. In a steel cabinet in the bedroom where the women slept there was shampoo, some apples, face cream, a small bag of medicine, hand soap, some personal items and a hair brush. Guards at the detention centre today told of a rushed escape in which the aid workers did not even have time to pack. They said the aid workers appeared happy, possibly believing they were about to be freed. news.com.au * * *