Ricardo Munguia

A water supply engineer, Ricardo Munguía was a citizen of both Switzerland and El Salvador. He joined the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1999 and had served as an ICRC delegate in Colombia, the Republic of Congo and Angola.

He was fatally shot on March 27, 2003, by gunmen while on assignment with several Afghan colleagues in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province, although another account placed the incident at a Taliban checkpoint in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar. He was 39.

This marked the first murder of a foreign aid worker in Afghanistan in at least five years. Munguía's murder sparked concerns that security issues would prevent aid workers from reaching more of Afghanistan's most vulnerable people.

According to eyewitness Abdul Salam, after stopping Munguía and his three-vehicle convoy, gunmen made a satellite telephone call to Mullah Dadullah. When the conversation ended the gunmen shoved Munguía behind one of the vehicles, siphoned gasoline from the tanks and used it to set the vehicles on fire. Munguía was then executed, reportedly hit by more than 20 bullets. The gunmen then allegedly told the others: "You are working with "kafirs" (unbelievers). You are slaves of Karzai and Karzai is a slave to America... This time we will let you go because you are Afghan, but if we find you again and you are still working for the government we will kill you."

On April 21, 2003, U.S. special forces raided a location in Southern Afghanistan. The raid was aimed at catching those responsible for Munguía's murder. In the raid, one suspect was killed and seven others were detained.