Linda Norgrove

US Army troops from Bravo Company, 2/327 Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division began a 12-day search supported by Afghan army, police and commando units under the codename "Enterprise".

A house-to-house search was conducted and roadblocks posted at the valley entrance to prevent Norgrove's captors from transferring her eastward into Pakistan.

The difficult terrain (with few roads) complicated and slowed the process; the search efforts succeeded in containing the kidnappers in the vicinity and several local Taliban members were killed.

It was unclear at first who had kidnapped Norgrove and her colleagues.

A Taliban commander, the Pakistan-based Mohammed Osman, was reported to demand the release of Aafia Siddiqui in return for Norgrove's freedom.

Siddiqui, known as "Lady al-Qaeda", had received an 86-year prison sentence in the US on 26 September.

"We are lucky that we abducted this British woman soon after the ruthless ruling by an American court on Aafia Siddiqui. We will demand the release of Aafia Siddiqui in exchange for her", said Osman.

Other Afghan sources denied any link to Osman.

Norgrove was born in Altnaharra, Scotland, in 1974 to John and Lorna Norgrove.

She grew up on a croft on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles, attending a primary school in Uig.

She later attended the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway.

Norgrove attended the University of Aberdeen, receiving a first-class honours degree in tropical environmental science; her coursework included postgraduate research at the University of Chiapas in Mexico and a year of study at the University of Oregon (1993–94).

She attended the University of London, receiving a MA with distinction in rural resources and environmental policy in 1997.

In 2002, Norgrove received a PhD from the University of Manchester in development policy and management.

From 2002 to 2005, she worked for the World Wide Fund in Peru, supporting (and later supervising) the WWF's Forest Programme in the Peruvian Andes.

At the time of her death, in addition to her aid work, Norgrove was working towards an MBA from the University of Warwick through distance learning.

She worked in Afghanistan for the United Nations from 2005 to 2008, and as regional director of an international development company based in Jalalabad beginning in February 2010.

She also worked in Laos as an environmental specialist for the UN in 2008–09, Mexico and Uganda where Norgrove researched the effects of national park management on the indigenous population near Mount Elgon National Park.

On 26 September 2010, British aid worker Linda Norgrove and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped by members of the Taliban in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan.

She was working in the country as regional director for Development Alternatives Incorporated, a contractor for US and other government agencies.

The group were taken to the nearby Dewegal Valley area.

United States and Afghan forces began a search of the area, placing roadblocks to prevent the group from being moved east into Pakistan.

Norgrove's captors demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui in exchange for her return.

The Taliban released the three Afghans on 3 October 2010 during negotiations.

The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group conducted a predawn rescue attempt five days later on the Taliban mountain hideout where Norgrove was held captive, amid concerns that she would be killed or moved by her kidnappers.

US forces killed several kidnappers and three local farmers during the assault.

They subsequently located Norgrove, badly wounded in a nearby gully, and she died later from her injuries.

Initial reports said that she had been killed by an explosion set off by one of her captors.

A joint official investigation by the United Kingdom and the United States later concluded that her fatal injuries were inflicted by a grenade thrown by one of her rescuers.

On 26 September 2010, Norgrove and three Afghan colleagues were travelling in the Chawkay District (also known as Tsawkay and Sawkay) of eastern Kunar Province when they were kidnapped by local insurgents.

They were ambushed while driving on the main highway from Jalalabad to Asadabad, in the Dewagal valley, in two unarmoured, unmarked Toyota Corollas.

A US military convoy was ambushed two months earlier on the same stretch of road.

Norgrove wore a burqa to disguise her foreign appearance.

According to four sources within the United States military and intelligence services, at the time Norgrove was working for Development Alternatives Incorporated and was secretly employed by MI6.

However, this claim cannot be fully substantiated due to the confidential nature of its sources.

Her family has regarded the claims as, "ridiculous."

They have also claimed, "Linda was passionately against war, disliked the military with a vengeance and mostly sided with Afghans rather than western governments."

Dressed in men's clothing by her captors, she was taken first into the mountains and then brought to the Dewegal Valley in Chowkai District (which crosses the Korengal Valley).

A February 2011 coroner's narrative verdict reported that Norgrove died during the failed rescue attempt.

In October 2012, one of her colleagues said in an interview that the captors had told Norgrove that they had no intention of killing her.