Kabul, Aug 10: The United Nations suspended road missions in parts of southern Afghanistan after five policemen were wounded and a group of Afghan aid workers were tied up and beaten by unidentified attackers, a UN spokesman said today.
The two separate attacks occurred last Tuesday in Maywand district in Kandahar province, UN spokesman David Singh told reporters in Kabul.

In the first incident, insurgents equipped with rocket launchers, grenades and heavy machine guns opened fire Tuesday on a police checkpoint, wounding five police in a 45-minute gunfight.
Later the same night, attackers tied up 10 Afghan staff from a local aid group, coordination humanitarian assistance, at their offices and "severely" beat them, Singh said. The violence came after the aid workers refused to hand over keys to several newly purchased vehicles, he said. Three of the vehicles were set ablaze.
Road missions were suspended after the attacks in Maywand, Singh said. The United Nations routinely suspends road travel after security incidents to protect staff. Currently, the United Nations has ordered its staff to avoid road missions to the southern provinces of Uruzgan and Zabul, as well as northern parts of Helmand and Kandahar.


Bureau Report