From BBC News
Seven suspects have been arrested and questioned over the kidnapping of three foreign nationals in Afghanistan. British-Irish UN worker Annetta Flanigan and her Kosovo Albanian and Filipino colleagues were seized at gunpoint in Kabul on Thursday. A group called the Army of Muslims says it is holding them outside the city. Three of the seven detained were armed men in uniform who did not belong to the military or police, the Afghan interior ministry said. No definitive link between them and the kidnapping had been established, spokesman Latfullah Mashal added.
On Friday, leader of the Army of Muslims, Syed Akbar Agha, said the search for the hostages must stop to allow negotiations for their release to begin.
| "How can we negotiate when we're on the run?" |
The hostages were safe so far, he said, and his group's council had met to discuss its demands. They would include the release of Afghan prisoners being held in Afghanistan and in the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, he said. A videotape was being prepared to show the group had kidnapped Mrs Flanigan, of Richhill, County Armagh, Filipino Angelito Nayan and Kosovar Shqipe Habibi. The three work for a joint UN Afghan commission overseeing the landmark presidential election vote count since polling day on 9 October. They were snatched from their vehicle by armed men near Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel. ..... |