GUNMEN KILL 10 MINE-CLEARING WORKERS IN AFGHANISTAN

KABUL: Gunmen killed 10 people and wounded 14 others in an attack on the HALO Trust de-mining organisation in Afghanistan, an Afghan interior ministry official said on Wednesday.

Spokesman Tariq Arian blames the Taliban for the Tuesday night attack on the group’s camp in the Baghlan Markazi district of northern Baghlan province.

The Taliban immediately denied any connection to the attack, in response to an Associated Press query.

The HALO Trust global media manager, Louise Vaughan, in response to the AP, said that 110 de-mining local personnel of the organisation were on camp after finishing their work on a minefield nearby when the “unknown armed group” opened fire at them.

A survivor of Tuesday’s attack told AFP that five or six armed men scaled the compound walls and gathered everyone together before asking if there were any Hazara present.

Afghanistan’s Shiite Hazara community is often targeted by jihadists from the Islamic State, who consider them heretics.