A militant group, which has claimed responsibility for kidnapping three foreigners in Afghanistan said on Saturday the hostages were safe. The Jaish-e-Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), a breakaway Taliban faction, gave Reuters identity card numbers purportedly from two of the hostages to prove their claims. The numbers were being checked with authorities. The three abducted foreigners—a woman with dual Irish and British citizenship, a woman from Kosovo and a Filipino diplomat—had been helping organise Afghanistan's first direct presidential election when they were snatched from their United Nations vehicle in rush hour traffic on Thursday. It was the first abduction of foreigners in Kabul and raised fears that militants fighting nearly 28,000 U.S. and NATO forces in the country were copying tactics used by insurgents in Iraq.
| That's hardly surprising. |
Akbar Agha, a spokesman for the kidnappers, told Reuters the three would only be released if all Taliban prisoners held in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay were freed. Speaking by phone, he also insisted again that authorities call off the hunt for the kidnappers and hostages. Another spokesman for the group told Reuters that Annetta Flanigan, the kidnapped Anglo-Irish woman, was slightly ill. "The British woman was indisposed, but we have given her medicine and she's okay," said Sabir Mohmin.
| "Here, lady. Have some of this opium. It'll make you feel better." |
Afghan and security sources said on Friday that three people had been detained over the kidnapping, but on Saturday they said it now appeared there was no close connection. |