The government blamed the Taliban for the attack on the British-American charity, the HALO Trust.
KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 10 people were killed and 16 others wounded in an armed attack on staff members of a British-American charity in Afghanistan that has been clearing land mines in the country for decades, officials said on Wednesday.
Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, blamed the Taliban for the attack, which occurred late Tuesday at a demining camp in the northeastern province of Baghlan and targeted employees of the charity, the HALO Trust.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, denied any involvement and said that the area where the “horrifying†attack had taken place was not under the militant group’s control.
The HALO Trust, a British charity with an American affiliate registered in Washington, said in a statement on Wednesday that an “unknown armed group†entered the demining camp at 9:50 p.m.
Tolo News, a news network in Afghanistan, published footage on Twitter that it said showed people wounded in the attack being taken on stretchers to a public hospital in Pul-e-Khumri, a city about 140 miles north of Kabul, the capital.
The HALO Trust began working in Afghanistan in 1988.
Embassy in Kabul said in a statement on Wednesday that American leaders met their Afghan counterparts in the city this week and “agreed that maintaining political unity was essential during this period of transition.â€
Najim Rahim reported from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Mike Ives from Hong Kong