Afghan Charity Identifies Last 2 Dead In Aid Workers Attack

The U.S ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, has rejected Taliban claims that the murdered aid workers had sought to convert Afghans to Christianity.

The International Assistance Mission (IAM), a Kabul-based charity, today identified the final two victims from what they believe was an IAM team killed in Afghanistan's northeastern province of Badakhshan in a slaughter claimed by the Taliban.

IAM head Dirk Frans today released the names of what they believe were the two final victims: Brian Carderelli of Harrisonburg, Virginia, a freelance videographer employed at the International School of Kabul, and Daniela Beyer, a German citizen.

Afghan and U.S. investigators are probing the killings of 10 medical aid workers -- eight of them believed to be Westerners -- who were killed in an attack that has since been condemned by the United States, Germany, France, and Britain.

Initial indications have suggested the killed volunteers include five U.S. men and three women, from America, Britain and Germany, and two Afghans. At least one Afghan, a driver, is reported to have survived the attack.

The unarmed group had been treating villagers in northern Afghanistan for eye diseases and other ailments before it was attacked last week.

Addressing Afghans in a video message, Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, said, "Militant, extremist Taliban have claimed responsibility for these killings. We do not know whether they are responsible or whether they are simply taking credit for the cowardly and despicable acts of others.

"The Taliban has called this group of medical aid workers spies and proselytizers. They were no such thing. These were selfless volunteers who devoted themselves to providing free and much-needed health care to Afghans in the most remote and difficult parts of your country. Their murder demonstrates the absolute disregard that terrorist-inspired Taliban and other insurgents have for your health, have for your security, and have for your opportunities. They don't care about your future. They only care about themselves and their own ideology."

The foreign medical aid team had been organized by the International Assistance Mission, which describes itself as a Christian nongovernmental health and economic development aid organization that says its volunteers are not involved in preaching Christianity in Afghanistan.

compiled from agency reports