VOA News / September 11, 2017
Ayaz Gul
ISLAMABAD — A foreign woman working for the 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.