A British aid worker kidnapped in
Pakistan in January has been found dead, the Foreign Office has said.
Khalil Dale, 60, who worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), was kidnapped in Quetta, south-west Pakistan.
The body of the Muslim-convert was found in an orchard in Quetta with a note
saying he had been killed by the Taliban, local police said.
The ICRC described the health programme manager's killing as a "barbaric
act".
It is understood the militants holding him had asked for a huge ransom which
could not be paid.
Foreign Secretary William Hague called his murder "senseless and
cruel".'Devastated'
Mr Dale, who had links to Dumfries, south-west Scotland, had worked for the
ICRC and the British Red Cross for many years, carrying out assignments in
Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

I utterly condemn the kidnapping and killing of Mr
Dale”End Quote William Hague Foreign
Secretary
He was abducted by unidentified armed men while on his
way home from work.
Aleem Maqbool, the BBC's correspondent in Islamabad, said very little had
been heard publicly about the case since eyewitnesses reported seeing Mr Dale's
car ambushed by suspected militants in early January.
Most international aid agencies had moved foreign staff out of Quetta long
ago and the death would only persuade more to do the same, our correspondent
added.
ICRC director general Yves Daccord said: "The ICRC condemns in the strongest
possible terms this barbaric act.
"All of us at the ICRC and at the British Red Cross share the grief and
outrage of Khalil's family and friends. We are devastated.
''Khalil was a trusted and very experienced Red Cross staff member who
significantly contributed to the humanitarian cause."
Mr Hague said: "I utterly condemn the kidnapping and killing of Mr Dale, and
send my deepest condolences to his family and loved ones as they come to terms
with their tragic and distressing loss.
"This was a senseless and cruel act, targeting someone whose role was to help
the people of Pakistan, and causing immeasurable pain to those who knew Mr
Dale.
"My thoughts are with them, and with all those who have dedicated their lives
to assisting the world's most vulnerable people through the Red Cross."Troubled area
Quetta, close to the border with Afghanistan and to Pakistan's troubled
tribal areas, has been beset with problems of militancy.
There is known to be a Taliban presence there, but there has also been
violence connected to the separatist movement in Balochistan.
The Red Cross operates clinics in Quetta that treat people wounded in the war
in Afghanistan, including Taliban insurgents.
In August last year, a 70-year-old US aid worker was kidnapped in the city of
Lahore.
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri later issued a video saying he would be
freed if the US stopped air strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Nothing has been heard of him since. I guess this is what he wanted from his religion of peace.