The United Nations is to pull its non-essential foreign staff out of Afghanistan, a spokesman said Thursday.

U.N. spokesman Aleem Siddique said the United Nations would relocate about 600 of its roughly 1,100 international staff in total, with some being moved to safer sites within Afghanistan while the rest would be withdrawn from the country.

The move comes eight days after a Taliban attack on a hostel in Kabul in which five UN workers were killed.

The figure was less than an earlier report that 900 international staff would be evacuated.

A U.N. statement emailed to Reuters said it would not make details of the new measures public, adding: "It is expected that they will involve short-term relocations for some staff while additional security is being put in place."

The United Nations has around 5,600 staff in Afghanistan, most of whom are Afghans.


Agencies