Six Afghan Red Cross workers have been killed by suspected Islamic State (IS) group gunmen in the northern province of Jowzjan,the BBC reports quoting officials as saying.
The workers were shot dead in the Qush Tepa area, the governor told the BBC.
Two others are unaccounted for, and feared abducted by the group,he said. The ICRC confirmed the deaths but said it did not know who had killed its staff.
IS has been active in Afghanistan since 2015, claiming recent attacks in the east and Kabul.[br]
There was no instant claim for the attack in Jowzjan.
[br]The ICRC said in a tweet that it was "shocked and devastated" by the news. The organisation's head, and Peter Maurer,said it was a planned attack on his staff which "we condemn in the strongest possible terms".
The ICRC has had an uninterrupted presence in Afghanistan for 30 years and says it will now assess its operations in the country.
Government officials said the Red Cross staff were transporting supplies including livestock materials to areas affected by recent deadly snowstorms when their convoy was attacked.
Jowzjan governor Lutfullah Azizi confirmed to the BBC that all six employees who were killed were Afghan.
Provincial police chief Rahmatullah Turkistani told the Reuters news agency that the bodies of the six workers had been taken to the provincial capital Sheberghan, and a search had begun to find the two ICRC employees who had not been accounted for.
[br]Taliban militants have also targeted the Red Cross in the past - its office in Jalalabad wasattacked in 2013.
Source: tert.am