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| How the rescue of British aid worker Linda Norgrove ended in tragedy Captor detonated suicide vest as US special forces rescuers arrived at the mud-walled compound in eastern Afghanistan American special forces were within "seconds" of rescuing the kidnapped British aid worker Linda Norgrove when she was fatally wounded by a suicidal explosion triggered by one of her captors, Nato said yesterday.Details of how close the pre-dawn operation came to freeing the 36-year-old from a mud-walled compound in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan emerged during a briefing in the capital, Kabul.US soldiers had already fought their way into the stronghold in the village of Dineshgal, in Kunar province, when the blast occurred on Saturday. One of the kidnappers is believed to have been wearing a suicide vest and standing beside Norgrove when it detonated.After US medics reached her they gave emergency first aid and evacuated her by helicopter. She died shortly afterwards. Seven insurgents were reported to have been killed in the raid.The blast occured "seconds before rescuers arrived", a Nato military spokesman said yesterday. "[US special forces] had entered the compound … [but] an insurgent detonated an explosive device that was attached to his person. He was in close enough proximity to Ms Norgrove. She was wounded. Soldiers – who were on the scene very, very shortly afterwards – attempted to provide medical care at the scene. She was evacuated straight away but succumbed to her wounds."Her grieving family, gathered in their croft on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, were yesterday waiting to be given a full account of the events since her abduction before issuing a statement.Her 60-year-old father, John, a retired civil engineer, and her 62-year-old mother, Lorna, who launched the charity Western Isles Beach Clean Up, were too upset to talk. They were joined during the day by Linda's sister Sofie. The family had already recorded a video pleading for her release but the Foreign Office had advised that publicising her identity at that stage would only place her at greater risk.The rescue mission came three weeks after Norgrove was seized by insurgents as she drove from Jalalabad, where she worked for the US aid organisation Development Alternatives Inc (DAI), to inspect an irrigation project she had overseen.An intrepid traveller, Norgrove had risked the journey into one of Afghanistan's more dangerous districts in the company of three trusted local workers. After her Afghan staff companions were liberated by their captors, the security forces became fearful that Norgrove was about to be taken over the nearby border into Pakistan. Tribal leaders were reported to have been trying to negotiate her release from Dineshgal, where she was being held. They complained their efforts were hindered after local roads were blocked by coalition troops.Tributes to Norgrove's dedication poured in over the weekend. Although she grew up in the Outer Hebrides, the family would spend five weeks every second winter in third world countries.After gaining a first class degree at Aberdeen University, she researched how national park management in Uganda affected the indigenous population and eventually secured a PhD from Manchester University in 2002. She became an environmental specialist at the World Wildlife Fund in Peru before going on to work for the UN in Afghanistan and Laos.Norgrove had returned recently to Afghanistan to join DAI. Its chief executive, James Boomgard, said: "Linda loved Afghanistan and cared deeply for its people, and she was deeply committed to her development mission. She was an inspiration to many of us."Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, said: "Ms Norgrove was a dedicated aid worker who was doing everything she could to help people in Afghanistan – hopefully that legacy of service in a humanitarian cause can be of some comfort to her loved ones in their time of grief."The foreign secretary, William Hague, defended the decision to launch a rescue operation. "Responsibility for this tragic outcome rests squarely with the hostage-takers," he insisted. "From the moment they took her, her life was under grave threat. Given who held her, and the danger she was in, we judged that Linda's best chance lay in attempting to rescue her."In the aftermath of the third fatality among British aid workers in Afghanistan since the summer, both the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development insisted there were no plans to alter advice given to those travelling into potentially hostile regions.In July, Shaun Sexton, 29, from Northumberland, a former member of the Parachute Regiment, died during an attack on DAI offices in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan. He had been working as a security guard. A month later the British doctor Karen Woo and nine others were killed by gunmen in the north-eastern province of Badakhshan in what police said was a robbery. She had been with Christian International Assistance Mission, a charity providing eye care in remote villages.AfghanistanNatoOwen Bowcottguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Ill O'Brien to sit out Strictly Former Coronation Street actress Tina O'Brien will sit out this Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing after being diagnosed with chicken pox. bbc.co.uk |
Taliban Influence Grows in North The Taliban's influence in northern Afghanistan has expanded in recent months from a few hotspots to much of the region, as insurgents respond to the U.S.-led coalition's surge in the south by seizing new ground in areas once considered secure. online.wsj.com |
Letters: Piñera still has more to prove after Chile mine rescue Chilean president Sebastian Piñera has been feted during his brief London visit as the man of the moment (Rocks from a hard place, 19 October), hailed in the street by people who remember last week's unforgettable scenes of 33 miners hauled one after another to the surface and into the president's outstretched arms after over 10 weeks trapped underground. But once the euphoria dies down, some more sobering matters await the president's attention. These include the question of what the men were doing down there in the first place, in an overworked, unstable mine previously closed down as unsafe ... until copper prices rose and rose, and profit margins were allowed to trump safety concerns. Happily for Piñera, the decision to reopen was taken under the previous government, but it's hard to see the millionaire president selling the idea of tough new safety standards to the entrepreneurial class who are his natural supporters. High growth figures over the past decades have tackled absolute poverty, but turned Chile into a highly unequal society. Piñera was elected last year by Chileans who want to be kept in the style to which they have become accustomed. A brief look at his background is enough to show how unrealistic it is to expect him to do that while taking on big business. Labour protection is not familiar territory for Chile's millionaire president. The free-market model that has done wonders for Chile's growth figures has also brought deregulation, "flexibilisation", and de-unionisation, leaving workers ever less protected. Piñera is a man in search of a message: from the less ideological of Chile's two rightwing coalition parties, he has proved willing to borrow centre-left ideas, including the social protection policies of popular outgoing president Michelle Bachelet. A move to the centre would also help put clear blue water between Piñera and the Pinochet dictatorship, which is Chile's most recent experience of rightwing rule. It's no coincidence that Piñera has expressed the hope that Chile will now be remembered for the slick mining-rescue operation rather than for the 1973 coup. He has a preoccupation with Chile's and his own international image, and a morbid fear of being reminded that Chile's modern political right, like its present economic structure, are creations of the military regime.Piñera's first few months were lacklustre, with little progress on earthquake reconstruction, and a damaging and ill-managed 70-day hunger strike by indigenous activists. The miners' story was a political godsend, once it became clear that it would have a happy ending. But there's a long way to go before Piñera's real political legacy can be assessed, and a savvy media policy will not be enough.Dr Cath CollinsUniversidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile Chileguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Counterfeit Money Being Produced with Printing Presses in Lima, Peru With lots of surreptitious printing presses able to churn out fake bills, Lima produces reams and reams of pesos, soles, bolÍvares fuertes and, of course, U.S. dollars feedproxy.google.com |