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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
AFGHANISTAN: Attack in the east prompts suspension of UN mine clearance
KABUL, 24 April 2003 (IRIN) - Following an armed attack on a mine-clearance survey team from the Mine Clearance Planning Agency (MCPA) on the Jalalabad-Kabul road, the United Nations Mine Action Campaign for Afghanistan has suspended all its activities in the east.
"The UN mine clearance activities is suspended on this road until Saturday," David Singh, a media officer of the UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan, told IRIN in Kabul, adding that all UN movements had also been suspended in the area for 48 hours after the incident.
UNAMA said the attack happened on Tuesday while the mine-clearance survey staff members were carrying out their duties, driving a white Land Cruiser marked MCPA.
"Approximately 10 rounds of gunshot were fired at them from the north side of Tang-e Abrisham mountain range, in Sarowbi District of Kabul Province," Singh said, noting that the incident had lasted for about 10 minutes until someone in another vehicle came to their assistance.
According to Noor-ul-Haq Hashi, a deputy director of MCPA, all three staff members, these being a surveyor, a mine-clearance operative and a paramedic had been wounded and taken to hospital across the border in the northeastern Pakistani city of Peshawar. "Two of them are reported to have recovered, and the third one, who has serious injuries in his leg, will remain in the hospital," Hashi told IRIN, observing that he did not know why they had been targeted.
"The government security has gone to the area to secure it and investigate this violent action," he said, adding that that the attackers had fled.
MCPA is an international-level Afghan organisation conducting the most extensive mine-clearance survey operations in the country. "We suspended the survey on the Kabul-Jalalabad road, but our activities in other parts of the country are normal as usual," Hashi said. He pointed out that Tuesday's incident had been the first armed attack on the mine-clearance agency. However, a month earlier, an MCPA team had been robbed along the road between Farah and Herat provinces in the west of the country, he noted.
The attack on MCPA staff follows that of 27 March, which resulted in the death of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegate in southern Afghanistan. The Salvadoran-born Swiss delegate was dragged out of his car and shot dead in Oruzgan Province. The murder of the ICRC delegate had a immense impact on aid agencies, particularly those in southern Afghanistan, causing aid workers to suspend movements for over a week. The Afghan government has been conducting investigations to find the perpetrators of these attacks.
Whereas so far no culprit has been arrested or identified, the US-led coalition forces announced on Wednesday that they had killed the assassin of the ICRC worker. "In coordination with the Afghan government and a combination of intelligence and information provided by Afghan forces, an operation was conducted [aimed at] at capturing the persons believed responsible for the 27 March murder of an ICRC delegate," Lt Jason Wyhnycky, a spokesman of the US army told IRIN in Kabul, adding that seven other suspects had been captured. The eighth, believed to be the assassin, had been killed after he opened fire on the coalition forces, Wyhnycky added.
But for Singh, the incident highlighted the need for even greater caution. "We are [already] over-cautious," the UN media officer said, "[but] there is a need for additional measures [to be taken following] an incident like this."
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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