Armed Attack Kills 10 Staff of Charity Clearing Afghan Land Mines

ISLAMABAD - Officials in Afghanistan said Wednesday that gunmen assaulted the office of an international charity clearing land mines in the country, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than a dozen others.    The overnight deadly attack on Britain-based HALO Trust’s camp occurred in the embattled northern Baghlan province, the scene of fierce fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents.  pic.twitter.com/clGGimjqN8

A provincial police spokesman told VOA the victims were all Afghan citizens who work at the de-mining camp, alleging that insurgents gathered them in a room before spraying them with bullets.    Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied its involvement, saying the Baghlan-e-Markazi district where the “horrifying” assault took place late Tuesday was not controlled by the insurgents.     “We condemn attacks on the defenseless & view it as brutality. We have normal relations with NGOs, our Mujahidin will never carry out such brutal acts,” Mujahid wrote on Twitter.     The HALO Trust denounced the attack, saying more than 100 de-miners from local communities were undertaking humanitarian missions in the area.   “The (armed) group entered the camp and opened fire. Around 110 men, from local communities in northern Afghanistan, were in the camp having finished their work on nearby minefields,” the charity said in a statement it posted on Twitter.