Help quake victims, urges Taliban

Tricky rescue mission in Afghanistan, Pakistan as death toll passes 300 THE Taliban has encouraged aid groups to help victims of the massive earthquake in northern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rescuers yesterday struggled to get a clear picture of the damage caused by the quake as the death toll passed 300.

With large mountainous areas of Afghanistan hit and icy weather closing in, the unstable security situation has posed a major challenge to international aid groups that have been repeatedly targeted by insurgents.

But the Taliban, which has driven its Islamist campaign against the Western-backed government in Kabul across the country this year, said it would not stand in the way of aid efforts and ordered fighters to help victims.

“The Islamic Emirate calls on our good-willed countrymen and charitable organisations to not hold back in providing shelter, food and medical supplies to the victims,” the group said in a message of condolence to quake victims, using its formal name.

“It similarly orders its mujahideen in the affected areas to lend their complete help.”

Authorities confirmed 228 deaths in Pakistan, while in Afghanistan the death toll reached at least 115, a senior official said. At least 4 000 houses and compounds had been destroyed or damaged.

The toll could climb as road and communications links are restored to isolated villages and as winter sets in across the rugged Hindu Kush mountains where the earthquake struck, the plight of thousands left homeless is becoming more serious.

But the region ravaged by the 2005 disaster has yet to recover, with many homes and buildings not repaired. – AFP