Gino Strada, Italian surgeon for victims of war, dies at 73

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Gino Strada, an Italian emergency room surgeon who helped establish a humanitarian group to operate on civilians wounded in war, has died. His family and the group he co-founded, Emergency, said Strada died on Friday. He was 73. The organization provided medical care for civilians in 19 countries, including Rwanda and Afghanistan, who were victims of war and poverty. Strada, who lived for seven years in Afghanistan, was a fierce critic of the U.S-led invasion of that country in 2001. Exactly on the day of his death, an Italian newspaper had published an article by Strada saying the Taliban’s rapid military gains in the last few days in Afghanistan shouldn’t surprise anyone.