December 6, 2001	Thursday	Ramazan 20, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 5: Three gunmen on Tuesday evening ambushed UNHCR staff as they were returning to Peshawar.

Speaking at a news conference, UNHCR spokesperson, Maki Shinohara, said the three gunmen tried to stop UNHCR’s two vehicles. One vehicle took three shots, but luckily no one was injured, she said.

The spokesperson said the incident happened around 4:30pm, as six staff members were returning to Peshawar after escorting a convoy of Afghan refugees to UNHCR’s newly established Kotkai camp. She said that soon after the UNHCR staff came out of Mohmand Agency, approaching Peshawar, three men began firing at the first vehicle from the side of the road. The first UN vehicle, she said, stopped and began to reverse but the second vehicle could not stop and overtook the first one and sped past the gunmen. This vehicle took at least three shots, but made it around a corner, where it came across a police patrol on the road, she said.

Expressing concern over the incident, Ms Shinohara said UNHCR had decided to postpone the relocation convoy of refugees from Jalozai to Kotkai for the time being.