Six Americans among 10 killed in Afghanistan
Eight foreigners and two Afghans have been found shot dead next to abandoned vehicles in the north-eastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, officials say.
The dead foreigners are believed to be six Americans, one Briton and a German, who worked for an international charity providing eye care and medical help.
Their vehicles were discovered a day after contact was lost with them.
Local police said robbery might have been the motive. However, the Taliban have said they were behind the attack.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said bibles translated into Dari had been found.
"Yesterday at around 0800 (0330 GMT), one of our patrols confronted a group of foreigners. They were Christian missionaries and we killed them all," he told the AFP news agency.
He later told the Associated Press they were "spying for the Americans"
The team was working for a Christian charity, the International Assistance Mission (IAM). Its executive director, Dirk Frans, denied the medics and their Afghan interpreters were missionaries.
"That is a lie. That is not true at all. IAM is a Christian organisation, we have always been that," he told the BBC.
"We have worked in Afghanistan since 1966 - under the king, the communists, the Russians, the Mujahideen and the Taliban. They have known us as a Christian agency, but we certainly do not distribute bibles."
An IAM spokesman earlier said it was still awaiting formal identification of the victims, but that their families had been informed.
The bodies are expected to be returned to Kabul over the weekend.
The US embassy in Kabul said it had reason to believe that several American citizens were among the deceased.
"We cannot confirm any details at this point, but are actively working with local authorities and others to learn more about the identities and nationalities of these individuals," it said in a statement.
The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office told the BBC it, too, was aware of the reports that bodies had been found in northern Afghanistan and was "urgently looking into this".
Badakhshan, a mainly ethnic Tajik region bordering Tajikistan, is one of the few Afghan provinces not to have been controlled by the Taliban before the US-led invasion of 2001.
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