[ti:Killing of 10 Aid Workers 'Horrific' but Not Uncommon] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Development Report] [by:www.tingclass.com] [00:03.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:06.25]Development Report. [00:08.44]Humanitarian aid groups [00:10.58]have promised to continue [00:12.37]their work in Afghanistan [00:14.37]after militants murdered [00:17.56]ten medical aid workers [00:19.75]August fifth. [00:21.49]Officials say the seven men [00:23.92]and three women worked [00:26.22]for the Christian aid group [00:28.51]International Assistance Mission. [00:31.34]They were returning to Kabul [00:33.98]after a trip to Nuristan province [00:37.22]to provide medical care and supplies. [00:40.65]Those killed were six Americans, [00:43.65]one German, one Briton and two Afghans. [00:49.05]The Taliban claimed [00:51.16]responsibility for the attack. [00:53.50]It accused the aid workers [00:56.53]of being spies [00:58.12]and spreading Christianity. [01:00.72]Violence against aid workers [01:03.50]has increased in recent years, [01:06.39]even though international laws [01:08.78]are supposed to protect them. [01:12.01]Seventeen aid workers [01:14.56]have been killed in the first [01:16.80]half of this year in Afghanistan. [01:20.58]Nineteen others have been kidnapped. [01:23.52]In Pakistan, seven aid workers [01:27.50]from the Christian group [01:29.13]World Vision were killed [01:31.28]during an attack [01:32.48]on their office in March. [01:34.76]Officials believe militants [01:37.85]were responsible for the attack. [01:40.40]The Humanitarian Policy Group [01:43.83]has been studying violence [01:45.93]against aid workers for [01:48.16]more than ten years. [01:50.07]The group released its latest report [01:53.26]on the issue last year. [01:55.55]Abby Stoddard works with the [01:58.83]international research group [02:01.12]Humanitarian Outcomes. [02:03.51]She helped write [02:05.40]the policy group report. [02:07.19]The report says that [02:09.38]in two thousand eight, [02:11.62]two hundred sixty humanitarian [02:14.67]aid workers were killed, kidnapped [02:18.35]or seriously injured [02:20.09]in violent attacks. [02:22.74]This was the highest number [02:25.33]of incidents since the group [02:27.57]began doing the research [02:29.61]twelve years ago. [02:31.30]Mrs. Stoddard says [02:33.69]more than sixty percent [02:35.98]of the incidents took place [02:37.97]in three countries. [02:40.16]Abby Stoddard: "There has been [02:41.05]a rather significant increase [02:42.26]in major attacks against aid workers [02:44.50]but this has been driven [02:47.02]by the extreme violent environments [02:49.27]centered in just about three countries, [02:51.51]Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, [02:54.84]particularly the Darfur region of Sudan." [02:56.59]Sri Lanka, Chad, Iraq and Pakistan [03:00.83]also had many cases of violence [03:04.11]against aid workers. [03:05.56]Abby Stoddard says ongoing conflicts [03:09.90]in the countries increase [03:11.59]the risk of violence [03:13.38]against aid workers. [03:15.81]Mrs. Stoddard called the recent [03:18.41]murders in Afghanistan horrific. [03:21.23]But she said they are not uncommon. [03:24.73]She says incidents involving [03:27.51]nationals instead of foreigners [03:29.84]do not get the same level of attention. [03:33.19]And that's the VOA Special English [03:37.42]Development Report, [03:39.16]written by June Simms. [03:41.19]You can comment on this report [03:44.09]at our website, tingclass.com. [03:49.76]And you can find us on Facebook, [03:52.83]Twitter and YouTube [03:55.08]at VOA Learning English. [03:58.23]I'm Steve Ember.