Two French aid workers kidnapped in central Afghanistan last week are being held by a commander of a former armed faction, a Western radio broadcaster said on Tuesday.
The pair were working for the humanitarian agency of Action Against Hunger in the central province of Dai Kundi and were kidnapped while sleeping in their house on Friday, the organisation said. Commander Sedaqat phoned Radio Liberty to claim responsibility for seizing and holding the two, said the US-sponsored station which broadcasts in Afghanistan's main languages, Pashtu and Dari.
Sedaqat said he had kidnapped them due to differences with provincial authorities he said had sidelined him from power, the network said. Sedaqat said he wanted to settle the issue peacefully, but made no demand for freeing the pair. Sedaqat belonged to an ethnic Hazara armed faction and briefly joined the Taliban when the group was in power from 1996 till 2001, the radio said.
He then sided with the Afghan government after US backed Northern Alliance forces toppled the Taliban government following the September 11 attacks in 2001. |