The body of missing British aid worker Khalil Dale has been found in Pakistan, four months after he was kidnapped by armed men, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.
Mr Dale, 60, originally from Dumfries, was working for the British Red Cross in the south-western city of Quetta, in Baluchistan province, when he was abducted by gunmen on his way home on January 5.
Local police chief Ahsan Mahboob said Mr Dale’s body was found in an orchard with a note attached saying he was killed because no ransom had been paid.
Khalil Dale had been working in Quetta for a year (Picture: PA/British Red Cross)
Safdar Hussain, a doctor who examined the aid worker’s body, said his throat had been slit.
The ICRC condemned the ‘barbaric’ murder of Mr Dale and paid tribute to the health programme manager, who had previously been based in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
UK foreign secretary William Hague said: ‘I learned with great sadness earlier today of the killing of Khalil Dale by his kidnappers in Baluchistan province, Pakistan.’
The aid group’s director-general Yves Daccord said: ‘The ICRC condemns in the strongest possible terms this barbaric act. All of us at the ICRC and at the British Red Cross share the grief and outrage of Khalil’s family and friends.’
Mr Daccord said the ICRC was ‘devastated’ at Mr Dale’s death.
‘Khalil was a trusted and very experienced Red Cross staff member who significantly contributed to the humanitarian cause,’ he added.
Mr Hague said the British government and the Red Cross had worked ‘tirelessly’ to secure Mr Dale’s release.
Khalil Dale pictured in Egypt in December 2011 (Picture: PA/British Red Cross) Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/897609-missing-british-aid-worker-khalil-dale-found-dead-in-quetta-pakistan#ixzz1tSU8zsEH
‘I utterly condemn the kidnapping and killing of Mr Dale, and send my deepest condolences to his family and loved ones as they come to terms with their tragic and distressing loss,’ he continue
How sick these murderers must be, to kill an aid worker and a Muslim convert on top of it all.
We of course condemn any act of terror and murder! Whether the victims are Muslim converts or Christian worshipers (in Nigeria today)
Proves that these people anything but Islam and have no respect for it, to boot, too.
Jahiliyyat is back in Pakistan in all it’s forms, unfortunately.
So very evil! Such people are nothing but criminal minded barbarians. It’s bitter but truth is that bond of deen carries no meaning for these people. Of course not all, but MAJORITY of these evil doers.