Taliban Executes 10 Medics

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the murder of 10 medical personnel, including six Americans, in northern Afghanistan on Thursday. The victims, believed to be part of the International Assistance Mission, were found shot to death and stripped of their belongings, suggesting a possible robbery. Led by an American ophthalmologist who had been working with Afghanistan for 40 years, the team was in a mountainous region of Badakhshan province trying to provide eye care to poor people in the remote area. According to local authorities, a band of red-bearded gunmen took the group hostage after it stopped for lunch, marched it to a secluded area, and shot them.