Gayle Williams (18 December 1973 – 20 October 2008) was an aid worker for SERVE Afghanistan of joint British and South African nationality.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed responsibility for her death and said she had been killed "because she was working for an organization which was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan".
Her mother took her to live in Middlesbrough, England during her secondary school years, after which she went back to South Africa to study biokinetics and occupational therapy at the University of Zululand.
[2] Williams had attended the funeral of a colleague a few weeks before her own death, and expressed a wish to be buried in the same Christian cemetery in Kabul if she were to die in Afghanistan.
[2] Douglas Alexander, UK Secretary of State for International Development, condemned the murder: "Her killing was a callous and cowardly act by people who would take Afghanistan back to the dark days of the Taliban tyranny which scarred the country for so long.
[7] A "prayer walk" for Williams' family and colleagues was arranged for 8 November 2008 in London, stopping to pray outside embassies of countries where Christian believers face persecution.