2013 record year for attacks on aid workers

Attacks on aid workers reached a new peak in 2013, with 155 relief staff killed, and danger levels remain high this year, according to figures released Tuesday. Afghanistan topped the list of countries where aid workers faced greater risk, with 81 killed in 2013, according to research from the consultancy group Humanitarian Outcomes. Worldwide, a total of 155 aid workers were killed, 171 were seriously wounded and 134 were kidnapped in 2013-- with three-quarters of the violence taking place in five countries: Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, Pakistan and Sudan. Overall, this represents a 66 per cent increase in the number of victims from 2012. The escalating conflicts in Syria and in South Sudan were cited as deadly settings for aid workers, driving up the killings. Roaming militias killed six aid workers this month in South Sudan, three of them in an ambush, and 11 UN staffs were killed in attacks on UN-run shelters in the Gaza Strip. Over half of all violent incidents in 2013 were either ambushes or roadside attacks, according to Humanitarian Outcomes, according to AFP.