Gunmen kill Pakistani women aid workers, daughters

PARACHINAR, Pakistan, June 16 (Reuters) Gunmen shot dead two Pakistani women aid workers and two daughters of one of the women today in a remote area near the Afghan border, a government official said.

The two woman ran a community centre that taught village women vocational skills in the conservative Orakzai tribal area, where hardline Islamists, who call themselves Taliban after the Afghan militants, have been growing in strength.

''There has been opposition to NGOs in the area,'' said district government official Abdul Kamal Khattak, referring to non-governmental organisations.

The gunmen fired through a window of the community centre, killing the two women and the two girls, Khattak said.

Conservative Islamists in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan sometimes see voluntary workers, especially those who promote women's education, as a Western-inspired threat to traditional ways.

REUTERS SB RK1818