KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Medical relief agency Medecins Sans Frontieres on Wednesday announced that it will withdraw from Afghanistan because of the killing of five of its staff and the danger of further attacks.

The Nobel Prize-winning group, known as Doctors Without Borders in English, said it was pulling out also because it was unhappy with a government investigation into the June 2 deaths and with the “co-optation of humanitarian aid” by U.S.-led forces here “for military and political motives.”

The group said in a statement that it regretted having to leave Afghanistan, where it has been operating for 24 years, but added: “today’s context is rendering independent humanitarian aid for the Afghan people all but impossible.”

Costa Rican cop takes hostages

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) – A Costa Rican policeman assigned to guard the Chilean embassy took 11 people hostage inside the building Tuesday, officials said.

Police officials identified the officer only by his last name – Jimenez. They said he had been wounded – it was unclear how – and suggested he may have shot himself by accident.

It was not immediately known how Jimenez was armed. Authorities were trying to negotiate with him, but it was unclear what his demands were.

Leftist rebels free bishop

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – Marxist guerrillas freed a Roman Catholic bishop unharmed Tuesday, three days after he was abducted in an effort to use him to deliver a political message to authorities, church officials said.

Misael Vacca Ramirez, the bishop of Yopal, was released close to where he was taken in remote mountains near Morcote, about 120 miles northeast of Bogota, Luis Augusto Castro, the Archbishop of Tunja, told The Associated Press.

Ghana Airways flights suspended

WASHINGTON (AP) – Ghana’s state-run airline was barred by U.S. officials Tuesday from flying into and out of the United States during an investigation of allegations it ignored orders to ground unsafe aircraft and flew on an expired license.

The decision to suspend the airline and the circumstances that led to it are very rare, possibly unprecedented, said Robert Johnson, a Transportation Department spokesman.

“We’re making a decision that we believe is the first of its kind.”

In two instances, Ghana Airways used an aircraft that had been ordered grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration because of safety concerns, the department said. The roundtrip flights between Ghana and New York and Ghana and Baltimore took place on July 24 and 26, Johnson said.

The airline also allowed its operating license to expire earlier this month but continued unauthorized direct flights since that time, the agency said.