United Nations officials said a Pakistani employee has been killed and his guard wounded during a kidnapping attempt in a refugee camp in northwest Pakistan.
U.N. officials said Zil-e-Usman was working at the Kacha Garhi camp near the city of Peshawar when gunmen tried to kidnap him and then shot him in the chest. The U.N. worker was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. A guard working for another aid agency also was killed in the crossfire.
Zil-e-Usman was 59. He was involved in relief efforts at the refugee camp.
Several employees of the United Nations and other aid agencies have been targeted by Taliban attacks in the past year. In June, militants bombed an upscale hotel in Peshawar that was popular with foreign aid workers and journalists.
Separately, the United Nations expressed concern that Pakistan's offensive against suspected militants in the South Waziristan tribal region could displace hundreds of thousands more people.
U.N. Humanitarian Chief John Holmes told reporters Wednesday that as many as half of the 500,000 people in South Waziristan could flee the region if violence continues. Holmes, who just returned from northwest Pakistan, said any new displaced refugees would join more than two million other Pakistanis fleeing a similar offensive in the Swat Valley region.
Pakistan's government is urging some of those people to return to Swat, despite continuing fighting there. So far, only hundreds of displaced families have returned home in recent days.
U.N. officials said Zil-e-Usman was working at the Kacha Garhi camp near the city of Peshawar when gunmen tried to kidnap him and then shot him in the chest. The U.N. worker was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. A guard working for another aid agency also was killed in the crossfire.
Zil-e-Usman was 59. He was involved in relief efforts at the refugee camp.
Several employees of the United Nations and other aid agencies have been targeted by Taliban attacks in the past year. In June, militants bombed an upscale hotel in Peshawar that was popular with foreign aid workers and journalists.
Separately, the United Nations expressed concern that Pakistan's offensive against suspected militants in the South Waziristan tribal region could displace hundreds of thousands more people.
U.N. Humanitarian Chief John Holmes told reporters Wednesday that as many as half of the 500,000 people in South Waziristan could flee the region if violence continues. Holmes, who just returned from northwest Pakistan, said any new displaced refugees would join more than two million other Pakistanis fleeing a similar offensive in the Swat Valley region.
Pakistan's government is urging some of those people to return to Swat, despite continuing fighting there. So far, only hundreds of displaced families have returned home in recent days.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
