Six arrested in connection with Dr Nakamura’s murder in Afghanistan
The aid worker and his staff were travelling in the eastern province of Nangarhar where they were ambushed on 4 December. Seven to eight assailants took part in the attack, three of them armed with automatic guns and other firearms. The attack had been planned for some time.
Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Afghan authorities have detained six people in connection with the ambush in which a well-respected Japanese medical aid worker along with five Afghans – three bodyguards, the driver and a passenger – were killed on 4 December, police in Kabul announced yesterday.
Tetsu Nakamura (pictured), 73, led the Japanese Peace Medical Service (PMS), a charity known in Afghanistan as Peshawar-kai.
According to Afghan authorities and the group, the doctor and his staff were travelling on two vehicles in the eastern province of Nangarhar when seven to eight attackers – three armed with automatic rifles and other firearms – attacked them.
Nakamura was hit by five bullets shot at close range. The Afghan Interior Ministry reports that the bullets were custom-made, uncommon in the country. Apparently, the attack had been planned for some time, perhaps a year or two, a Ministry official said.
Helped by Peshawar-kai volunteers, investigators reconstructed the crime scene, saying that Nakamura was in the first of two vehicles with a driver and a bodyguard. The first car was followed by a security vehicle carrying four people, including NGO personnel.
The assailants came up aboard a car on the side forcing the first vehicle to stop. Other attackers joined in on a second car, coming up from behind it, according to the Ministry.
An official with the Afghan Ministry of Health stated that Nakamura appears to have bled to death.
A doctor who took part in the autopsy noted that the fatal bullet entered the victim's right chest and then lodged near the pelvis. The bullet had been modified for improved penetration.
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06/12/2019 09:35
