8 June 2009 - The office of the United Nations agriculture agency was attacked in northern Afghanistan over the weekend, with a rocket-propelled grenade having been fired at the compound.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) office in the city of Kunduz was attacked by six armed men at around midnight on 6 June.

Two guards were injured by the grenade attack, but their injuries are not life-threatening, and all UN personnel are safe, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

“While the motive of the attack remains unclear, it is a matter of great concern that anyone would target our office,” the Mission said at a press conference in Kabul.

FAO is helping farmers in the area rehabilitate their land, reap their harvests and feed their families, it stressed.

“We know that the farmers and people of Kunduz will join us in wanting to send a strong message to those behind this attack that they must stop and recognize the impartiality of the UN’s work in delivering essential assistance to the people of Kunduz,” UNAMA said.

UNAMA also announced today that this year’s first convoy – comprising 84 uprooted families – is leaving the Zari-e-Dasht camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, and returning to their places of origin in the provinces of Faryab, Badghis and Herat.

Nearly 1,000 families have registered to return in the coming weeks, and it is hoped that the pace of returns will pick up, the Mission said.

The return operation is facilitated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Afghanistan’s Department of Refugees and Repatriation, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).