British female aid worker killed in Kabul
Afghanistan police are investigating the shooting of Gayle Williams
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Monday, 20, Oct 2008 07:58
A British female aid worker has been killed in the Afghan capital of Kabul, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
Gayle Williams was working for the Christian charity Serve Afghanistan when she was killed.
The Afghanistan interior ministry told the AFP news agency she was shot dead by two men on motorbikes on Monday morning.
Zemarai Bashary, a spokesman for the ministry, is quoted as saying: "Two armed men sitting on a motorbike shot her dead. The perpetrators have run away and the police are working to find them.
"Some bullets hit her body and some hit her leg and when police got there she was dead."
A Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed that the woman was a British national and said her next of kin had been informed.
The Taliban has allegedly claimed responsibility for the killing, claiming she was targeted for preaching Christianity in Afghanistan.
Mark Lyth, the board chairman of Serve Afghanistan, said: "There were two people on a motorcycle. They got off the motorcycle and shot her and then went away on the motorcycle. She was dead pretty soon afterwards.
"We have no possible motivation for this other than, I suppose, what's happening in Afghanistan at the moment. I can only guess it was part of the Taliban offensive."
The British embassy in Kabul is currently checking whether Ms Williams was also a South African national, with reports suggesting she held both British and South African passports.