- KABUL - Authorities have
found the bodies of three Afghan women, one of whom worked for an aid group,
who were raped, strangled and dumped with a warning for women not to work
for such groups, an official said on Monday.
-
- Aid workers in Afghanistan have been the target of
Taliban insurgents, especially in the insurgency-plagued south and east
of the country, but the three women were found in the northern province
of Baghlan, where Taliban rebels are not active.
-
- "This is retribution for those women who are
working in NGOs and those who are involved in whoredom," said a Western
security official, citing the warning, a copy of which he had obtained.
-
- The note was found attached to the chest of one of
the dead women, he said.
-
- The bodies were dumped near a road outside Pul-i-Khumri
city, the provincial capital of Baghlan, said the city police chief, Gul
Mohammad Mangal.
-
- He confirmed warning letters were also found but
said he did not know their content. He blamed criminals for the killing.
-
- One of the three was a 25 year-old woman who until
recently worked for a Bangladeshi non-governmental organisation (NGO) involved
in providing micro credit, mostly to widows.
-
- A group calling itself "Afghan Youths Convention"
claimed responsibility for the killing, according to a caller who telephoned
a Reuters reporter in northern Afghanistan.
-
- The caller did not say if the previously unheard
of group had any connection with any faction or radical Islamic movements
such as the ousted Taliban.
-
- A doctor in the city said forensic tests showed the
three were raped and then strangled with a rope.
|
