Iranian Minorities’ Human Rights Organisation (IMHRO)
Ref.IMHRO.69
18.10.2009
On the 5 October 2009 the UN World Food Programme offices in Pakistan were targeted by a suicide bomber. The WFP has confirmed that 5 people were killed in the attack and many more were injured. Two Pakistani finance assistants and an Iraqi information and communication technology officer were among the dead.
According a BBC[i] reports, a WFP employee said that about 100 people were working in the building at the time and that the walls of the building cracked in the blast.
In the aftermath of the bomb it was widely suggested that the Taliban were responsible for the attack and subsequent reports indicate that the Taliban have claimed responsibility. According to some reports Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq said WFP was the target of the bombing because international relief work in Pakistan is not in the interest of Muslims[ii].
IMHRO strongly condemns this violent and unjustified attack on people working in a humanitarian programme. We join United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his condemnation of the attack, which he described as "a heinous crime committed against those who have been working tirelessly to assist the poor and vulnerable"[iii].
We call on the Taliban to cease acts of violent terrorism against humanitarian workers.
[i] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8290059.stm
[ii] See, for example, http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/10/06/taliban-pakistan-wfp-food-bomb113.html; http://tantaonews.com/?tag=azam-tariq
[iii] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8290059.stm
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