Afghanistan
A Christian-based medical aid agency has denied Taliban accusations that its eight foreign aid workers, murdered by insurgents, were spreading Christianity.
The team from International Assistance Mission (IAM), which included UK Dr Karen Woo, together with two Afghan colleagues, were gunned down by militants early in August while travelling back from a two-week mission to deliver medical care to remote villages in the east of the country.
Associated Press said that a Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the killings, saying the victims had been acting as US spies and carrying Bibles translated into Dari, one of the two main languages in Afghanistan.
These were claimed to be their personal Bibles. Police in Afghanistan suspect the motive for the shooting was robbery. IAM, which organised the expedition, has been registered as a Christian relief organisation in Afghanistan since 1966, but says it does not seek converts.
