Saturday, October 9, 2010

UK aid worker Linda Norgrove killed in Afghanistan

A UK aid worker held hostage after being kidnapped in Afghanistan has been killed, the Foreign Office has said.

Linda Norgrove, 36, who was employed by US aid group DAI, was kidnapped with three local staff last month.

Ms Norgrove, from the Isle of Lewis, was killed by her captors on Friday during a rescue mission by US forces.

The Briton and her colleagues were in a two-car convoy in the eastern province of Kunar when the vehicles were stopped by armed men on 26 September.

In a statement, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the aid worker was "killed at the hands of her captors in the course of a rescue attempt".

He said: "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.

"Responsibility for this tragic outcome rests squarely with the hostage takers.

"From the moment they took her, her life was under grave threat. Given who held her, and the danger she was in, we judged that Linda's best chance lay in attempting to rescue her."

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