Killing of Afghan aid worker sparks outrage from UN agency chief

The head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has spoken out against the killing of a humanitarian worker in southern Afghanistan, gunned down while delivering vital food aid in one of the most dangerous parts of the violence-ridden nation.

“We strongly deplore this attack, as we do all acts of aggression against humanitarian workers assisting people in desperate need,” WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said today, in response to the killing of one of the agency’s truck drivers, Ezatollah. “No loss of life can be tolerated.”

Mr. Ezatollah was driving a truck carrying 14 tons of high energy biscuits for WFP in the early hours of 2 December when he was ambushed by armed men on the road from Kandahar to Helmand in southern Afghanistan – the site of two other attacks on WFP trucks in October and November.

He was shot dead and his assistant was abducted and remains missing, as does the truck and its cargo. Police investigations are continuing into the incident.

WFP notes that attacks on its trucks and convoys are a common hazard in various parts of the world. In October, three contract truck drivers were shot dead while working for the agency in the strife-torn Darfur region of Sudan.