Militants kill 9 charity workers

Nine people who were working on a reconstruction project in the remote north of Afghanistan have been shot dead in an attack on a guesthouse, an official said.

The attack took place in the Zari district of Balkh province at 2am local time, when gunmen burst into the workers’ rooms as they slept, said Abdul Basset Ayni, director of the province’s rural development department.

Seven of the dead were workers and the other two were security guards, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on his official Twitter feed.