Ten members of a foreign medical team were shot to death in a remote area of northern Afghanistan on Thursday. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killings and said the foreigners were “spies and Christian missionaries.”

The victims were reported to include several Americans. The team was made up of eye doctors, nurses and technicians. –JCL

The New York Times:

Their aid group, the International Assistance Mission, said they were eye doctors, nurses and technicians, hiking into one of the toughest areas of the country to provide services. But the Taliban, who claimed responsibility, accused them of being spies and Christian missionaries.

“All indications are this is probably our team,” Dirk Frans, I.A.M.’s executive director, said from Kabul on Saturday. “They were on an optometric expedition, running an eye camp.” Both Mr. Frans and the police stressed, however, that no positive identification of the victims had yet been made. Their bodies were being brought out by road, a day’s journey to the district seat.

The 12-member medical team included six Americans, a Briton and a German, along with four Afghans, Mr. Frans said.

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