Wounded aid workers "stable" in Khartoum

Six relief workers picked up by a UN aircraft on Wednesday, a day after an armed attack on a river barge carrying food supplies in Unity State, have been flown to Khartoum for recuperation. Two of the six wounded in the attack, in which the co-pilot of the barge was killed, were "stable" in hospital, a WFP spokeswoman told IRIN on Thursday. The injuries were not as severe as originally feared, she added. The barge, one of three returning north from Juba after delivering 3,300 mt of food for 359,000 people in southern Sudan, was attacked by unidentified raiders near the town of Adok shortly after 6am on Tuesday morning. The co-pilot was killed and two of three WFP workers injured: a Kenyan national shot in the leg and a Sudanese national in the back. The wounded were tended by a nurse, one of three UNICEF workers on the barge, until picked up at Malakal and flown to Khartoum on Wednesday. While welcoming the rescue of the relief workers, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Sergio Vieira de Mello on Wednesday expressed "profound outrage" at the incident and called on all parties to ensure that "much-needed humanitarian assistance can continue to be provided safely to thousands of civilian victims of severe famine and the ongoing conflict".