ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN—
A Federal Way-based aid group is in mourning after learning that six workers were killed in an attack on the aid group's office in Pakistan.In a statement released today, World Vision says another seven employees are hospitalized with injuries and one staff member remains missing.
The international humanitarian organization said in a statement that it "is mourning the brutal and senseless deaths" of several staff members in the Mansehra District of Pakistan after "an unprovoked attack by gunmen."
World Vision said it is trying to confirm reports that gunmen threw bombs or grenades before firing rounds at the office. It says it did not receive any threatening letters before the attack.
All of the victims are from Pakistan. World Vision says it has suspended operations in Pakistan indefinitely.
"Those who kill humanitarian workers must be reminded that they are not only killing their own country's residents, but also people seeking to improve the lives of victims of poverty and injustice," World Vision said in a statement.
World Vision is a Christian aid group that had been helping earthquake survivors in northwestern Pakistan. The group says it has primarily focused on relief interventions in Pakistan since 1992, but the work expanded in 2001 and again in October 2005 after a devastating earthquake that killed 73,000 people.
Officials say Islamist militants see foreign aid groups and local outfits that receive international funds as a challenge to their authority. Extremists have killed other people working for foreign aid groups in Pakistan. Many groups have scaled down operations or pulled out altogether.
In 2008, gunmen attacked an office of the Plan International aid agency in Mansehra town, killing four Pakistani workers. Mansehra is to the east of the Swat region, where the army launched an offensive a year ago to clear Pakistani Taliban. The offensive raised fears that the militants might be pushed into Mansehra.
