Gunmen Execute 8 Afghan Laborers

Gunmen ambushed a carload of Afghan laborers heading home from a remote U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan and executed eight of them, a police official said Friday.

The killings occurred as a statement purportedly issued by fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar called for stepped-up attacks on Afghan and foreign troops. It told the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to leave Afghanistan, saying alliance members were “losing their soldiers only for America.”

The victims, who worked for the U.S. military in the mountainous Korangal area of Kunar province, were killed Thursday, said Abdul Saboor, the provincial deputy police chief.

Gunmen stopped the workers’ car, searched them and took about $6,000 before gunning them down, said Salehzai Didar, Kunar’s governor. Two workers escaped, he said.

“This was a shocking attack against these poor people,” said Saboor, who did not identify the attackers other than to describe them as “the enemy.”

Afghanistan this year has faced its deadliest surge in violence since U.S.-led forces ousted the fundamentalist Taliban regime five years ago for sheltering Osama bin Laden.

The statement attributed to Omar was forwarded by e-mail to the Associated Press by Mohammed Hanif, who claims to speak for the militia. It warned that the Taliban would increase its attacks against foreign and Afghan troops, “which would be a surprise to many.”

“I would again ask mujahedin to intensify their attacks, but they should avoid any harm to innocent people and children,” said the statement, which was issued just before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

The statement’s authenticity could not be verified.

It said that democracy in Afghanistan had failed and that the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai was seeking an “exit.”