Bangladeshi aid group to continue despite death

Despite the killing of an Afghan engineer working for a Bangladeshi aid group in southern Afghanistan, the agency said on Wednesday that it would continue its relief activities in the area. Eng Mirwais was killed on Monday in Lashkargah, capital of the insurgency-hit southern Helmand province. He worked for the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), which has been building schools, roads and clinics in rural areas of Afghanistan. “The killing of our staff member will not hamper our aid activities in the southern parts of Afghanistan,” a BRAC official said on condition of anonymity in the capital Kabul. Adrian Edwards, United Nations Assistant Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) spokesman, said that it was a sad incident that warranted immediate government action. “We hope this crime will be properly investigated and those responsible brought to account in accordance with law,” Edwards noted. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but similar killings in the past have been blamed on remnants of the hard-line Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan until its ouster in late 2001. In April, three women linked to BRAC were found stoned to death in the northern province of Baghlan. Despite progress made in electing a new government and disarming thousands of militia, parts of Afghanistan remain very insecure. Violence blamed on Taliban militia has left many southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan off-limits to aid workers. Last year, about 1,600 people were killed in fighting, the most since the fundamentalist religious militia were removed from power. An Indian engineer, together with his driver and two bodyguards, was kidnapped in the southern Nimruz province in November last year. His body was found two days after the kidnapping.