4 Red Cross Workers Kidnapped in Afghanistan
27 September 2007
Afghan authorities say four International Red Cross employees have been abducted in central Wardak province.
Officials say the Red Cross workers were kidnapped on Wednesday while they were traveling back to Kabul. Red Cross officials confirmed that two foreign and two Afghan employees had gone missing, but declined to say if they had been kidnapped.
Officials say the Red Cross employees had traveled to Wardak to talk with militants about the release of a German hostage.
The Taleban kidnapped two Germans in Wardak in July. One was later killed and another is still being held.
In August, the Red Cross helped facilitate talks between the Taleban and South Korean officials that led to the release of 19 Korean hostages.
In other news, the Afghan Interior Ministry says a Taleban spokesman was arrested during a raid in the southern province of Helmand.
However, a man who said he was the spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, later called foreign media claiming that he had not been detained.
The Interior Ministry said Ahmadi was taken into custody Wednesday along with his brother in the village of Sufiyan, in the volatile southern province of Helmand.
NATO-led and Afghan forces recently launched a new offensive in Helmand province to try and bring more security and stability to the southern region.
Separately, Danish military officials today said that two Danish soldiers were killed on Wednesday evening in skirmishes with the Taleban in Helmand.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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