A Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said four kidnapped staff
of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were
released in Wardak province of central Afghanistan on Saturday.
Mujahid told Xinhua from an undisclosed place that the four were
freed in Sayd Abad district near the Kabul-Kandahar highway. He
claimed Taliban militants first mistook them as spies, so they
detained them.
Afghan officials also confirmed the release.
The four were abducted together with a newly released German
hostage in Wardak province when they were on their way back to
Kabul on Wednesday afternoon, according to Mohammad Sadiq, who is
an aide to Wardak governor.
The Taliban spokesman did not mention the condition of the
German hostage.
Two of the four ICRC members were foreigners, while the other
two were Afghan drivers.
The German was kidnapped by Taliban militants in Wardak in July
together with another German, who later was shot dead, and five
Afghans.
Afghanistan has witnessed many kidnappings recently, some of
which are carried out Taliban militants, while others by criminal
groups.
(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2007)
