Asia Evangelical Alliance condemns slaying of aid workers in Afghanistan

The Asia Evangelical Alliance (AEA) has condemned Taliban's slaying of ten aid workers in Afghanistan.

The bodies of a Briton, six Americans, a German, and two Afghan interpreters were discovered Friday in the forested area of Badakhshan Province in northern Afghanistan.

Media reported that the aid workers were associated with the International Assistance Mission (IAM), a non-profit Christian NGO working in Afghanistan since 1966.

AEA condemned the "barbaric killing" and said its thoughts and prayers were with the family of those killed.

Rev Dr Richard Howell, general secretary of the AEA, appealed to the Afghanistan Government to "provide protection to humanitarian workers" in the country.

He urged civic groups around the world to "condemn the killing of the innocent in strongest terms possible".

Saturday's attack was one of the deadliest strikes against aid workers since 2001.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killings, saying the medical workers were "foreign spies" and were spreading Christianity.

This has been refuted by the International Assistance Mission, which has helped an estimated eight million Afghans through its projects in eye care and medicine.

Executive Director of IAM, Dirk Frans, spoke of the "senseless killing of people who have done nothing but serve the poor" in a statement.

"This tragedy negatively impacts our ability to continue serving the Afghan people as IAM has been doing since 1966,” he said. “We hope it will not stop our work."