The Taleban have demanded the release of 50 militia in exchange for two Indian engineers who were kidnapped from the southern province of Zabul earlier this month. Security chief Haji Baz Mohammed in the Shah Joi district told AIP the authorities had received a letter demanding their release. âThe list does not have any prominent name and include those persons arrested after the fall of Taleban in December, 2001 and mainly detained in Shebergan prisons,â AIP quoted him as saying.
| Did it have a return address? Or did you throw the envelope away? |
Mohammed said the Talebanâs demand has been conveyed to the central authorities in Kabul and to the construction company employing the Indians. The abducted engineers were being held hostage by Taleban commanders Maulvi Mohammed Alam and Maulvi Ahmedullah, who were moving across the mountainous regions of Khak-e-Afghan and Dai Chopan, Mohammed said. This is the second time in the past few months that remnants of the Taleban have kidnapped foreign engineers working on the Kabul-Kandahar road. On October 30, the Taleban kidnapped Hassan Onal, a Turkish engineer working for the same project. |