Shock at brutal killing of Red Cross worker Khalil Rasjed Dale

theaustralian.com

HORRIFIED agencies yesterday condemned the murder of a Red Cross worker taken hostage in Pakistan whose bullet-riddled body was found in an orchard yesterday, decapitated, with a note attached to his body saying he had been killed because no ransom was paid. Khalil Rasjed Dale, 60, a Scot who was engaged to be married to a nurse in Australia, was seized by armed men in January in Quetta, in southwestern Pakistan. "This was a shocking and merciless act by people with no respect for human life and the rule of law. Khalil Dale has dedicated many years of his life to helping some of the most vulnerable people in the world," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. The director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Yves Daccord, condemned the "barbaric act". "It's unbelievable what they've done to Ken," a friend and former colleague, Sheila Howat, said. "It's soul-destroying. For someone who has ... devoted their life to caring for others - it's just so wrong. Ken was an absolutely lovely person who saw good in everybody. He wanted to make the world a better place for people who had nothing."Ms Howat said Mr Dale's fiancee, Anne, lived in Australia. "I was so happy that he had finally found happiness. I think their engagement happened quite recently." Mr Dale, 60, had been awarded the MBE for his humanitarian work overseas. He changed his name from Ken when he became a Muslim. Quetta police chief Ahsan Mahboob said the note attached to it read: "This is the body of Khalil who we have slaughtered for not paying a ransom." Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, lies close to the Afghan border and for decades has hosted thousands of refugees from that country. The Red Cross operates clinics in the city. A Pakistani foreign office statement condemned the crime, promising to bring its perpetrators to justice. However, arrests for this type of crime are rare. Much of Baluchistan and the tribal regions close to Afghanistan are out of Pakistani government control, and make good places to keep hostages. Large ransoms are often paid to secure their release, but such payments are rarely confirmed. Last August, a 70-year-old American humanitarian aid worker was kidnapped from his house in the Punjabi city of Lahore. Al-Qa'ida claimed to be holding the man, Warren Weinstein, and said in a video he would be released if the US stopped airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.