KABUL - The acting United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan, Tekeste Tekie, today said he was shocked by the indiscriminate attack that took place yesterday in northern Afghanistan that took the lives of three aid workers.

A roadside bomb destroyed an unmarked white vehicle carrying three national staff of the non-governmental organisation Development and Humanitarian Services in Afghanistan (DHSA) in Aqcha district of Jawzjan province.

DHSA is a partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) implementing a shelter programme for Afghan returnees. DHSA has also been active in assessing the shelter needs of families affected by recent flooding in northern Afghanistan.

This is at least the fourth security incident targeting humanitarian workers in Afghanistan in the past two weeks. Other incidents have also targeted NGO vehicles that were involved in the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

This latest attack is one more example of the unacceptable toll that the conflict in Afghanistan is taking on civilians, and in particular on humanitarian workers whose sole objective is the delivery of relief assistance to people in distress. The continuing attacks and threats have forced aid agencies to restrict their operations and thus adversely affecting their ability to reach those in need.

All parties to the conflict should honour their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure that this horrible incident is not repeated.

Non-combatants are never a legitimate target in war. Combatants are obligated to adequately distinguish themselves from civilians to enable non-combatants to be recognisable as such and be shielded from attack.

On behalf of the whole humanitarian and non-governmental community in Afghanistan, the acting Humanitarian Coordinator extends his condolences to DHSA and the families of those who were killed.