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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

IRAQ: Four aid workers killed in north

BAGHDAD, 16 March 2004 (IRIN) - Four foreigners working for an international aid agency were killed and another injured in a shooting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul late on Monday.

One man and two women working for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board were killed by automatic weapons fire in the shooting while travelling in a vehicle. A fourth person died on Tuesday morning while being transported by helicopter to a Baghdad hospital.

The Baptist aid group workers were in Mosul to deliver relief supplies, Sgt. Carmen Hickman, a US-led coalition spokeswoman in Baghdad, told IRIN on Tuesday. International news agencies reported that the group was working on a water purification project.

The US-based Southern Baptist International Mission Board identified the four dead as Larry Elliott, 60, and Jean Dover Elliott, 58, Karen Denise Watson, 38, and David McDonnall, 28, all from the US.

McDonnall's wife, Carrie Taylor McDonnall, 26, of Rowlett, Texas, remained in a critical condition, the mission board said. She is the only survivor of the attack. An off-duty Iraqi police officer found the bullet-riddled car and alerted coalition troops to the injured and dead inside, Hickman said.

The shooting follows last week's killing of two international workers and their translator in Hilla in central Iraq. In that case, police said the workers were targeted because they had been working on women's projects.

Aid agencies such as the International Refugee Committee continue to work in the north. United Nations projects in northern Iraq were sharply curtailed after a car bomb in Arbil several months ago. Most international UN workers involved with Iraq are currently working in Amman, Jordan.

Some international workers in Iraq fear they may now be targeted by insurgents just because they are foreigners. Virtually all NGOs in Iraq have been keeping a low profile since August when a bomb attack on the United Nations headquarters killed 22 people, including UN special envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello. Attacks against other aid agencies have been rare.

A worker at the International Medical Corps (IMC) NGO in Baghdad said his agency was still trying to get more information about Monday's shooting. International workers at the medical aid group travel in local cars, Kevin Noone, executive vice-president at IMC, told IRIN. Workers travel separately from each other, he said. In Monday's incident, all five Americans were travelling in one car.

"We are trying to find out more about the circumstances before making any decisions," Noone said. "At the moment, this is no different than any other security incident around the country."

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004