Pakistan orders all Save the Children foreign staff to leave

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistan has ordered all Save the Children's foreign staff to leave the country within four weeks, a spokesman for the aid agency said on Thursday.

The charity, which has six expatriate workers in Pakistan, said it had received no explanation for the order, but it has reportedly come under suspicion over the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

Media reports have linked Save the Children to Shakeel Afridi, a Pakistani doctor who was jailed for 33 years for treason after helping the CIA hunt down the Al Qaeda chief using a fake vaccination programme.

"Earlier this week we got a call from special branch instructing us to send back all expatriate staff," Save the Children spokesman Ghulam Qadir told AFP. "There were no reasons given. We are working with the government to comply with the instructions.