Red Cross Further Suspends Work in Pakistan After Killing

Posted May 10th, 2012 at 5:35 am (UTC-5)
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The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has suspended activities at its offices in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Karachi following the killing of one of its workers.

In a statement Thursday, ICRC officials said that while halting work in those areas will have a “severe and far-reaching impact” on the wounded and sick, the organization has to “completely reassess” its balance between humanitarian efforts and the safety of its staff.

Police in Quetta, the capital of insurgency-hit Baluchistan province, said the Taliban claimed responsibility for killing British doctor Khalil Rasjed Dale in a note found with his beheaded body on April 29.

The Pakistani government condemned the killing, and the Red Cross halted its operations in Baluchistan.

Red Cross officials said Dale had been managing a health program in Quetta, located near the Afghan border, for almost a year when he was kidnapped in January. The Red Cross operates clinics in the city that treat people wounded in the war in Afghanistan.

Dale had worked for the Red Cross for years, carrying out assignments in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq before coming to Pakistan.