UN worker, guard killed in NW Pakistan
(16 Jul 2009) SHOTLIST 1. Wide exterior of the camp for IDPs (internally displaced people) run by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), where the incident took place, people gathered at the scene 2. Wide of policeman talking to eyewitness 3. Mid of police and eyewitness 4. Blood on ground 5. Close of bullet shell in hand 6. Mid of police vehicles at scene 7. Policeman standing next to sign board for UNHCR camp STORYLINE Gunmen killed a United Nations employee and a guard during a failed kidnap attempt at a camp for internally displaced people in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, on Thursday, officials said. Local police said the assailants tried to abduct the United Nations official and opened fire when he resisted. Two Pakistanis working for the United Nations were also wounded in the attack, which took place at the Kacha Garhi camp near Peshawar, police said. The chief of the United Nations refugee agency in Pakistan, Guenet Guebre-Christos, identified the dead UN worker as Zill-e-Usman, a 59-year-old Pakistani in charge of the UN's relief efforts at the camp. She said Usman had worked for the UN for some 30 years and was due to retire soon. The other man killed in the shooting was a guard at the camp and did not work for the UN, Guebre-Christos said. Some 2 (m) million Pakistanis have been driven from their homes in northwest Pakistan due to military offensives against militants in the region - and many ended up in IDP camps. International organisation have stepped up humanitarian efforts, making them vulnerable to attack by militants or criminals. Islam Khan, a guard at the Kacha Garhi camp, which the UN says is home to 16-thousand refugees, said four men drove up to Usman's office in a blue car and went inside. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack, and there was no claim of responsibility. Mahmood Shah, a former security chief for Pakistan's northwest tribal regions, said Thursday's attack sounded like the work of criminals rather than the Taliban because the militants had largely been driven from that area. The number of kidnappings has soared in Pakistan in recent years, especially in the northwest. While many of the criminal gangs behind them are believed to be in it for their own gain, others are suspected of links to the Taliban, and kidnappings are believed to be an important source of funding for them. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
