7 Aid Workers and 5 Afghans Slain; Hostage Is Threatened

Suspected Taliban militants today killed seven people working for an international aid group in southern Afghanistan, an official said, in the second attack in two days against Western groups trying to help rebuild the war-shattered country.

The nationality of the victims and the name of the relief group were not immediately known, said Ali Khail, spokesman for the government in Zabol province.

On Wednesday, five Afghans working on a U.S.-funded project to help end opium farming were killed. They were shot as they drove through Helmand province, said senior provincial official Ghulam Mahauddin. The five were working on a U.S. government-sponsored project providing alternative livelihoods to farmers growing opium, a project spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, a man claiming to have abducted Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni threatened to kill her unless the government built more Islamic boarding schools and helped farmers find alternatives to growing opium. He gave no proof that Cantoni, 32, was his captive.