UPDATE - 10 deminers killed, 16 wounded by gunmen in Afghanistan

UPDATES NUMBER OF WOUNDED; ADDS CONDEMNATIONS, ADDITIONAL DETAILS; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – At least 10 members of a team clearing land mines were killed and 16 others injured in an attack in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan province, officials said on Wednesday.

Unknown assailants stormed the team’s camp in the Baghlan-e-Markazi district last night, according to the provincial administration.

Witnesses said the attackers also looted cash and belongings from the camp.

The deminers were associated with the Halo Trust, a British charity and American non-profit organization that “since 1988 has been destroying explosive items in Afghanistan.”

According to UN estimates, there are some 120 mine-related civilian casualties in Afghanistan every month, while the International Campaign to Ban Landmines recorded 1,538 fatalities due to land mines in the war-weary country in 2019.

Around 110 men from local communities were in the camp after finishing their work on nearby minefields when they were attacked by “unknown armed group,” the Halo Trust said in a statement.

“We strongly condemn the attack on our staff, who were carrying out humanitarian work to save lives. We are focused now on care of the injured staff and supporting the families affected,” it said.

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani blamed the Taliban for the brutal assault, terming it a “crime against humanity” that would earn the insurgents more hatred from the public.

“The Taliban target deminers across the country because they have been clearing highways, fields and villages of landmines and IEDs [improvised explosive devices], thereby, preventing an increase in civilian casualties by armed groups,” he said.

The Taliban, however, issued a swift denial.

In a video posted online, the group’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said eyewitness confirmed that Daesh/ISIS terrorists carried out the attack.

British public broadcaster BBC also quoted James Cowan, head of Halo Trust, as saying that “the local Taliban ... came to our aid and scared the assailants off.”

The attackers went “bed to bed” shooting people “in cold blood,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.

The assault came hours after the Taliban on Tuesday claimed to have captured one more district in the northern Faryab province.

Ruhollah Ahmadzai, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry, said Afghan forces made a strategic retreat to avoid civilian casualties and have a comprehensive plan to retake the areas.

“The situation will change for the better in the near future,” he asserted.

According to the Defense Ministry, 91 Taliban militants were killed and 63 injured in operations during the past 24 hours.