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'Patient' on Wheelchair Kills ICRC Foreign Physiotherapist in Afghanistan

by Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD --

   A foreign woman working for the [1]International Committee of the Red
   Cross has been shot dead in northern Afghanistan.

   An ICRC spokesman, Ahmad Rameen Ayaz, told VOA the incident took place
   Monday morning at one of their orthopedic clinics in Mazar-i-Sharif,
   the capital of Balkh province.

   Ayaz said the Afghan intelligence agency has arrested the assailant and
   launched an investigation into the deadly attack

   The shooter was said to be a "regular patient" and had hidden the
   pistol in his wheelchair.
   The ICRC spokesman added the motive for the violence was not known
   immediately and did not discuss the nationality of the slain ICRC staff
   member, a physiotherapist.
   Ayaz said the aid worker was quickly evacuated to a nearby NATO
   military hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.
   Provincial police officials say the assailant and another suspect taken
   into custody are being interrogated.

   Previous incidents
   Last week two kidnapped ICRC employees were released seven months after
   they were abducted by unknown gunmen in the neighboring Jawzjan
   province.

   The two staff members were abducted by an armed group in early February
   while on their way to deliver relief assistance in the province with
   six other colleagues who were shot and killed in the same attack,
   according to ICRC.

   The relief organization, however, would not comment on the identity of
   the abductors, their motives or the details of the release.

   The intensified armed conflict in Afghanistan has also seen a sharp
   rise in violence against aid workers trying to deliver much needed
   assistance to tens of thousands of displaced families across the
   war-ravaged country.

References

   1. https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/asia-pacific/afghanistan