British hostage dead in Afghanistan during rescue effort

LONDON - Linda Norgrove, 36, a British social worker with a US aid agency who was kidnapped in Afghanistan Sep 26, died Friday night during a rescue effort, the British Foreign Office reported Saturday.

The Press Association reported that Norgrove was killed by her captors during a US-led rescue attempt in which seven of her abductors also died.

Announcing the death, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the decision to attempt to free Norgrove was made “given the danger she was in”. The rescue attempt was made after a tip was received about her location.

“Given who held her, and the danger she was in, we judged that Linda’s best chance lay in attempting to rescue her,” said Hague.

“Responsibility for this tragic outcome rests squarely with the hostage takers. From the moment they took her, her life was under grave threat.”

Family members were too upset to make statements, reported the Press Association.

“We are saddened beyond words by the death of a wonderful woman whose sole purpose in Afghanistan was to do good - to help the Afghan people achieve a measure of prosperity and stability in their everyday lives as they set about rebuilding their country,” read a statement by James Boomgard, president and CEO of Development Alternatives Inc (DAI), the US firm for which Norgrove worked.

“Linda loved Afghanistan and cared deeply for its people, and she was deeply committed to her development mission.”

She had been captured along with three Afghans in the northeastern province of Kunar as they were travelling in two vehicles. The three Afghans were freed late last week.

Norgrove, from Scotland, was a former UN employee who was working with Afghans on local infrastructure and training projects. She had joined the company in February.

She had previously worked as an environmental expert with the World Wildlife Fund in Peru and on UN development projects in Laos.