[ti:Killing of 10 Aid Workers 'Horrific' but Not Uncommon] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Development Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:03.25]Development Report. [00:05.44]Humanitarian aid groups [00:07.58]have promised to continue [00:09.37]their work in Afghanistan [00:11.37]after militants murdered [00:14.56]ten medical aid workers [00:16.75]August fifth. [00:18.49]Officials say the seven men [00:20.92]and three women worked [00:23.22]for the Christian aid group [00:25.51]International Assistance Mission. [00:28.34]They were returning to Kabul [00:30.98]after a trip to Nuristan province [00:34.22]to provide medical care and supplies. [00:37.65]Those killed were six Americans, [00:40.65]one German, one Briton and two Afghans. [00:46.05]The Taliban claimed [00:48.16]responsibility for the attack. [00:50.50]It accused the aid workers [00:53.53]of being spies [00:55.12]and spreading Christianity. [00:57.72]Violence against aid workers [01:00.50]has increased in recent years, [01:03.39]even though international laws [01:05.78]are supposed to protect them. [01:09.01]Seventeen aid workers [01:11.56]have been killed in the first [01:13.80]half of this year in Afghanistan. [01:17.58]Nineteen others have been kidnapped. [01:20.52]In Pakistan, seven aid workers [01:24.50]from the Christian group [01:26.13]World Vision were killed [01:28.28]during an attack [01:29.48]on their office in March. [01:31.76]Officials believe militants [01:34.85]were responsible for the attack. [01:37.40]The Humanitarian Policy Group [01:40.83]has been studying violence [01:42.93]against aid workers for [01:45.16]more than ten years. [01:47.07]The group released its latest report [01:50.26]on the issue last year. [01:52.55]Abby Stoddard works with the [01:55.83]international research group [01:58.12]Humanitarian Outcomes. [02:00.51]She helped write [02:02.40]the policy group report. [02:04.19]The report says that [02:06.38]in two thousand eight, [02:08.62]two hundred sixty humanitarian [02:11.67]aid workers were killed, kidnapped [02:15.35]or seriously injured [02:17.09]in violent attacks. [02:19.74]This was the highest number [02:22.33]of incidents since the group [02:24.57]began doing the research [02:26.61]twelve years ago. [02:28.30]Mrs. Stoddard says [02:30.69]more than sixty percent [02:32.98]of the incidents took place [02:34.97]in three countries. [02:37.16]Abby Stoddard: "There has been [02:38.05]a rather significant increase [02:39.26]in major attacks against aid workers [02:41.50]but this has been driven [02:44.02]by the extreme violent environments [02:46.27]centered in just about three countries, [02:48.51]Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, [02:51.84]particularly the Darfur region of Sudan." [02:53.59]Sri Lanka, Chad, Iraq and Pakistan [02:57.83]also had many cases of violence [03:01.11]against aid workers. [03:02.56]Abby Stoddard says ongoing conflicts [03:06.90]in the countries increase [03:08.59]the risk of violence [03:10.38]against aid workers. [03:12.81]Mrs. Stoddard called the recent [03:15.41]murders in Afghanistan horrific. [03:18.23]But she said they are not uncommon. [03:21.73]She says incidents involving [03:24.51]nationals instead of foreigners [03:26.84]do not get the same level of attention. [03:30.19]And that's the VOA Special English [03:34.42]Development Report, [03:36.16]written by June Simms. [03:38.19]You can comment on this report [03:41.09]at our website, 51voa.com. [03:46.76]And you can find us on Facebook, [03:49.83]Twitter and YouTube [03:52.08]at VOA Learning English. [03:55.23]I'm Steve Ember.