Afghanistan's ruling Taliban today closed down a Western aid agency operating in the country and arrested 24 of its international and local staff on allegations that the group was propagating Christianity.
Shelter Now International was teaching Christianity to Afghans and we found Bible books in a house of its Afghan staff, the official Bakhtar news agency said.
Among eight foreigners arrested, six were women and two men while the rest 16 were Afghans, it said. The nationalities of the foreigners were not given.
Bakhtar said Taliban security officials found two computers and two computer discs containing material on Christianity.
The Taliban, a purist Islamic movement, issued an edict last year prescribing the death penalty for any Muslim converting to any other religion or those involved in such conversions.