Gunmen kill 9 workers in attack on relief agency

So far in 2015, at least 26 aid workers have been killed, 17 wounded and 40 abducted, an Afghan group says.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Gunmen barged into the compound of an aid agency in northern Afghanistan early on Tuesday, killing nine workers before fleeing, officials said.

It was the worst attack on aid workers this year, in which there has already been an increase in such episodes, alarming U.N. officials and charities. Many groups already had been curtailing their activities in Afghanistan.

So far this year, at least 26 aid workers have been killed, 17 wounded and 40 abducted, according to the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief and Development, or ACBAR, an Afghan group that advocates for many of the several thousand aid organizations here.

The attack, in the center of Zari district in northern Balkh province, targeted a house used as office and residential space by People in Need, a Czech charity that has delivered educational, health and agricultural services to the area for more than a decade.

Ross Hollister, the country director for the group, said gunmen entered the compound about 1:30 a.m. He said the victims were all Afghans: two drivers, two guards and five staff members carrying out projects for the National Solidarity Program, an Afghan government initiative popular in rural areas throughout the country.

The organization has suspended all its activities in the country, he said.

Local police officials blamed the Taliban, but so far the group has not claimed responsibility.

Khalifa Qasim, the landlord who had rented the house to the organization for $200 a month, said most of the victims had been shot in bed. The manager was killed under a desk.

The attackers seem to have fled the scene after a brief exchange of gunfire with police, who arrived an hour after the shootings, Qasim said.