The Hill News

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton assailed the Taliban for its "cruelty" while condemning Sunday the killings of 10 American medical aid workers, including six Americans.

The group of medical professionals, who had just given free eye care in the Nuristan Province, were going to offer free dental and maternity care at their next stop, Clinton said.

The others killed were one Briton, one German and two Afghan translators. One Afghan was released because he was reciting verses from the Koran. The volunteers were from the Christian organization International Assistance Mission, and the Taliban claimed it executed the group as being "Christian missionaries."

"We are heartbroken by the loss of these heroic, generous people. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this senseless act," Clinton said in a statement Sunday. "We also condemn the Taliban’s transparent attempt to justify the unjustifiable by making false accusations about their activities in Afghanistan."

A Taliban spokesman claimed that the group was carrying Persian-language Bibles, but the aid group said they were not.

The group was stopped in a forested area Badakhshan Province on their way back to Kabul, robbed of all their money and belonging, lined up and shot one by one, according to the Afghan survivor. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility.

"The murdered medical aid workers, as well as the volunteers from many nations and the international coalition working to establish stability in Afghanistan, represent exactly what the Taliban stands against: a future of peace, freedom, opportunity, and openness, where all Afghans can live and work together in harmony, free from terror," Clinton said.

"That is what we are working to achieve in Afghanistan, in partnership with the Afghan people. As we mourn the loss of these aid workers, we will continue with our own efforts, inspired by their example."