Sunday, October 10, 2010
Blown apart by a suicide vest .
A British aid worker died after her kidnappers in Afghanistan detonated a bomb vest as American troops tried to rescue her, it has emerged. The mission to save Linda Norgrove from her captors was authorised by Foreign Secretary William Hague, officials said. The Government defended the decision to launch the military assault, saying it was "right to try" to secure the release of Ms Norgrove, a 36-year-old aid worker from Scotland. Originally from Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands, Ms Norgrove was seized by militants in Kunar province on September 26. After a tip-off revealed her whereabouts, US troops in the eastern province were sent in. During the fighting, seven insurgents were shot dead, it is believed. But Ms Norgrove was killed by her captors before she could be secured and led to safety. According to reports, Ms Norgrove was either wearing the bomb vest or it had been held close to her before being detonated.
Linda Norgrove taught herself to speak Dari, an Afghan version of Persian, to help her to talk to the locals. Trudy Rubin, a journalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, who spent time with Miss Norgrove while reporting on DIA’s work in Afghanistan in May, said Miss Norgrove “knew all the staff on the ground, and could talk to all the farmers. “She seemed to be totally comfortable with everyone, with the elders, with women, with everyone, and she really listened to Afghans. She dressed with total modesty, with long black robes and a headscarf.” Miss Norgrove had grown to love Afghanistan, so much so that, while working in Laos last year, she spent three weeks of her annual leave in Afghanistan, trekking in the Pamir mountains in the far north-east of the country.
...This story really saddens me, for all Linda wanted to do was help. She was an aid worker, not a military combatant. She knew the risks of working in Afghanistan but she took those risks on board so that she could help the people who have so little. For her captors to kill her during the failed rescue attempt is evil. Her captors kidnapped Linda to gain money but by killing Linda they valued her life as worthless. For people to kill others in the way Linda died, makes me angry at the knowledge of how low mankind can exist. My thoughts are with her parents in Scotland and her co-workers still working in Afghanistan.
Assalamu alaikum.
A British aid worker died after her kidnappers in Afghanistan detonated a bomb vest as American troops tried to rescue her, it has emerged. The mission to save Linda Norgrove from her captors was authorised by Foreign Secretary William Hague, officials said. The Government defended the decision to launch the military assault, saying it was "right to try" to secure the release of Ms Norgrove, a 36-year-old aid worker from Scotland. Originally from Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands, Ms Norgrove was seized by militants in Kunar province on September 26. After a tip-off revealed her whereabouts, US troops in the eastern province were sent in. During the fighting, seven insurgents were shot dead, it is believed. But Ms Norgrove was killed by her captors before she could be secured and led to safety. According to reports, Ms Norgrove was either wearing the bomb vest or it had been held close to her before being detonated.
Linda Norgrove taught herself to speak Dari, an Afghan version of Persian, to help her to talk to the locals. Trudy Rubin, a journalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, who spent time with Miss Norgrove while reporting on DIA’s work in Afghanistan in May, said Miss Norgrove “knew all the staff on the ground, and could talk to all the farmers. “She seemed to be totally comfortable with everyone, with the elders, with women, with everyone, and she really listened to Afghans. She dressed with total modesty, with long black robes and a headscarf.” Miss Norgrove had grown to love Afghanistan, so much so that, while working in Laos last year, she spent three weeks of her annual leave in Afghanistan, trekking in the Pamir mountains in the far north-east of the country.
...This story really saddens me, for all Linda wanted to do was help. She was an aid worker, not a military combatant. She knew the risks of working in Afghanistan but she took those risks on board so that she could help the people who have so little. For her captors to kill her during the failed rescue attempt is evil. Her captors kidnapped Linda to gain money but by killing Linda they valued her life as worthless. For people to kill others in the way Linda died, makes me angry at the knowledge of how low mankind can exist. My thoughts are with her parents in Scotland and her co-workers still working in Afghanistan.
Assalamu alaikum.
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