An international Christian charity said Saturday that militants have killed its eight-member medical team of six Americans, one German and one Brit, plus two Afghan interpreters, in a remote area of northern Afghanistan.
Dirk Frans, director of the International Assistance Mission, said the medical workers were returning to Kabul from an eye clinic in Nuristan.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for killing the group.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told news agencies the members of the group were Christian missionaries.
A third Afghan man traveling with the IAM group said he survived by reciting passages from the Quran and saying, "I am Muslim. Don't kill me."
Earlier media reports quoted local officials as saying six Germans and two Americans were killed in the dense forest attack in Badakhshan province.
The local police chief said villagers had warned the group the forest was dangerous.
The bullet-riddled bodies were discovered Friday.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
