Three Afghan Women Found Dead with Warning Note

May 2, 2005 - (Reuters) Authorities have found the bodies of three Afghan women, one of whom worked for an aid group, who were raped, strangled and dumped with a warning for women not to work for such groups, an official said on Monday.

Aid workers in Afghanistan have been the target of Taliban insurgents, especially in the insurgency-plagued south and east of the country, but the three women were found in the northern province of Baghlan, where Taliban rebels are not active.

"This is retribution for those women who are working in NGOs and those who are involved in whoredom," said a Western security official, citing the warning, a copy of which he had obtained.

The note was found attached to the chest of one of the dead women, he said.

The bodies were dumped near a road outside Pul-i-Khumri city, the provincial capital of Baghlan, said the city police chief, Gul Mohammad Mangal.

He confirmed warning letters were also found but said he did not know their content. He blamed criminals for the killing.

One of the three was a 25 year-old woman who until recently worked for a Bangladeshi non-governmental organisation (NGO) involved in providing micro credit, mostly to widows.

A group calling itself "Afghan Youths Convention" claimed responsibility for the killing, according to a caller who telephoned a Reuters reporter in northern Afghanistan.

The caller did not say if the previously unheard of group had any connection with any faction or radical Islamic movements such as the ousted Taliban.

A doctor in the city said forensic tests showed the three were raped and then strangled with a rope.

From: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MMQD-6BZKSM?OpenDocument