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Gunmen kill 5 mine clearers
24/03/2008 09:35 - (SA)
Kabul - Unknown gunmen ambushed a convoy of mine clearers in northern Afghanistan, killing five and wounding seven, the director of their UN-funded mine company told AFP on Monday.
The attackers stopped the convoy as the team was returning to its base camp in the northern province of Jawzjan on Sunday after mine clearing operations in a remote area, Afghan Technical Consultants director Kefayatullah Eblagh, said.
They opened fire into the first vehicle and shot at the others, which included an ambulance, as they turned around and sped off, Eblagh said.
"Three people stopped the vehicle and started shooting at them without saying anything," he said.
"Five people were killed and seven injured," he said.
It was the worst attack on the company in its 18 years of operations in Afghanistan, he said. "It was terrible."
After nearly three decades of war, Afghanistan is one of the world's most mined countries with several companies working to rid it of the weapons which kill or maim scores of people every year.
Eblagh said the dead men, who included a driver and a section leader, were aged between 30 and 40 and came from various parts of Afghanistan.
It was not known who the attackers were, he said.
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