Abducted British aid worker killed during rescue

[October 09, 2010]  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A female British aid worker kidnapped during an ambush last month was killed during a rescue attempt by NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan, Britain's foreign secretary said Saturday.

The aid worker, identified as Linda Norgrove, was killed Friday night by her captors during the operation to free her, Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement from London.

Norgrove and three colleagues were kidnapped in eastern Kunar province on Sept. 26 after being ambushed. Police fought a gunbattle with the kidnappers near the attack site before the assailants fled.

"It is with deep sadness that I must confirm that Linda Norgrove ... was killed at the hands of her captors in the course of a rescue attempt last night," said Hague.

"Working with our allies we received information about where Linda was being held and we decided that, given the danger she was facing, her best chance of safe release was to act on that information," Hague said.

Norgrove's three Afghan colleagues were released shortly after being abducted.

It was unclear if any other deaths occurred during the raid.

Friday's wasn't the first rescue operation of an abducted Briton to end in bloodshed.

New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell and translator and reporter Sultan Munadi were taken hostage in September 2009 when they went to cover a NATO airstrike that killed scores of civilians in northern Afghanistan.

Munadi and a British commando died in the raid that rescued Farrell.

Meanwhile, a British medical worker with an aid charity was among 10 people killed in northern Afghanistan on Aug. 5.

The medical team -- including Briton Dr. Karen Woo -- were shot and killed by militants in Badakhshan province as they returned from providing health care in remote villages.

The victims, who also included six Americans, a German and two Afghans, were working for the International Assistance Mission.

[Associated Press; By ROBERT KENNEDY]

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