Two Christian aid workers killed in Afghanistan

Dirk Frans, director of the International Assistance Mission, giving a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2010 after the murders of 10 members of its medical aid team. AP

Two Finnish women working for International Assistance Mission (IAM) were shot dead in Herat, western Afghanistan on Thursday, the provincial governor said.

Governor Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi said the women were travelling in a taxi when they were shot at by men on a motorbike.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the killing.

IAM has worked in Afghanistan since 1996, and is the longest-serving NGO in the country. Its staff, who all work as volunteers, serve on a number of medical, educational and sustainable development projects.

In 2010, a team of 10 IAM workers were killed by gunmen in Badakhshan, in north-eastern Afghanistan.

The UN has also reported that three of its staff working for UNRWA, its humanitarian organisation in Palestine, were killed by Israeli air strikes on Thursday. They were the first humanitarian fatalities in the recent violence in Gaza.

The number of aid workers attacked and killed in the field has increased in recent years. The Aid Worker Security Database reports that155 aid workers died in 2013, 85 more than the previous year, and the highest number in the last decade.

News
NHS Trust settles with Christian nurse suspended in trans row
NHS Trust settles with Christian nurse suspended in trans row

A Christian nurse who was suspended for 10 months after allegedly misgendering a transgender patient has received a settlement from the NHS. 

Fulani terrorists kill 20 Christians in Nigeria's Plateau State
Fulani terrorists kill 20 Christians in Nigeria's Plateau State

Gunmen described as “Fulani terrorists” raided a village in central Nigeria on Thursday night and killed at least 20 Christians, area residents said.

New ‘Tyndale Trail’ launched to mark 500 years of English New Testament
New ‘Tyndale Trail’ launched to mark 500 years of English New Testament

A new long-distance walking trail tracing the life of Bible translator William Tyndale has been launched in south-west England, as part of commemorations marking 500 years since his groundbreaking English New Testament.

Russia and Ukraine agree to temporary Orthodox Easter truce
Russia and Ukraine agree to temporary Orthodox Easter truce

In the Orthodox calendar, Easter falls one week after the date celebrated in western Europe.