Gunmen kill HALO Trust’s ten mine-clearing workers in Afghanistan

The raid happened on Tuesday evening as dozens of deminers were relaxing in the HALO compound in Baghlan province, around 260 kilometres (160 miles) north of the capital, after a day spent looking for ordnance in nearby fields.

Baghlan has seen fierce fighting in recent months, with near-daily battles between the Taliban and government forces in several districts.

“The Taliban entered a compound of a mine-clearing agency… and started shooting everyone,” interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told reporters.

Baghlan province governor’s spokesman Jawed Basharat said the attackers were masked.

The UK-based HALO Trust told AFP “an unknown armed group” killed 10 staff and wounded 16 others.

“Around 110 men, from local communities in northern Afghanistan, were in the camp,” the organisation said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the insurgents were involved.

“We condemn attacks on the defenseless & view it as brutality,” he said on Twitter.

“We have normal relations with NGOs, our Mujahideen will never carry out such brutal acts.”

The United Nations Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan Ramiz Alakbarov condemned what he said was a “heinous attack” on the workers.

“It is repugnant that an organisation that works to clear landmines and other explosives and better the lives of vulnerable people could be targeted,” he said in a statement.

Violence has surged across the country since May 1 when the US military began its final troop withdrawal amid a deadlock in peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

In several districts where fighting has been intense in recent months, the insurgents have planted roadside bombs and mines to target government forces, but the explosives often kill and wound civilians.

Afghanistan was already one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, a legacy of decades of conflict.

The HALO Trust was founded in 1988 specifically to tackle ordnance left following the near ten-year Soviet occupation, and became a favourite cause of Britain’s Princess Diana.

The organisation’s website says it has an Afghan workforce of more than 2,600 and has removed landmines from nearly 80 percent of the country’s recorded minefields and battlefields.

On Wednesday, the Taliban claimed it had shot down an Afghan military helicopter in the province of Wardak near Kabul, but the defence ministry said the aircraft had crashed due to “technical reasons”.

Three crew members were killed in the incident, the ministry said.