UN suspends missions in two Afghan border districts following attacks

The United Nations has suspended all missions to two border districts in southern Afghanistan following a series of attacks there last week on humanitarian workers and Afghan soldiers.

The areas concerned are in Helmand and Kandahar provinces. There are also currently no missions to Uruzgan and Zabul or to northern Helmand, except to Lashkar Gah or northern Kandahar, a spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), David Singh, said in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Last Tuesday, 10 Afghan staff of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Coordination Humanitarian Assistance (CHA) were severely beaten by armed men and tied up in their project office in Maiwand district of Kandahar when they refused to release the keys to their newly purchased vehicles. The attackers burned three vehicles.

On Thursday, 40 suspected terrorists attacked the district commissioner’s office in Dishu district of Helmand, killing six Afghan soldiers and one Afghan staff member of the NGO Mercy Corps who were sleeping there.