Christian aid group denies killed members proselytised

(August 9, 2010) An international Christian aid group on Sunday denied Taliban accusations that its team of foreign medical workers killed last week in Afghanistan's remote northeast had been proselytising. On Sunday, the bodies of the 10 slain aid workers - six Americans, one German, one Briton and two Afghans - were recovered and flown by helicopter from Badakhshan province to a military compound in Kabul. The International Assistance Mission (IAM) had said the victims were members of its 12-strong eye care team that had been working in Badakshan and neighbouring Nuristan. Five of the foreigners were men and three women. Two Afghans escaped alive. The group said the members of its eye care team were on their way back to Kabul when they were killed by unidentified gunmen. On Saturday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing, saying the medical workers had been carrying Bibles in Dari language - and were killed because they were promoting Christianity. "The accusation is completely baseless, they were not carrying any Bibles except maybe their personal Bibles," Dirk Frans, the executive director of IAM, told Reuters. IAM says it is a "charitable, non-profit, Christian organisation" which has been working in Afghanistan since 1966 and under many different rulers. Franz said they have been in Afghanistan all those years, and, God willing, they will continue.