The man was driving a pickup truck belonging to a Christian emergency relief organization north of Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, when he was stopped by armed men, Zabul police chief Haji Mohammed Hayub said. Hayub said two local people were shot and injured when they tried in vain to stop the attackers from taking the car and the driver. One, hit in the face, was seriously hurt, he said. The other was shot in the leg. "They stole the vehicle and took the driver," Hayub said. "We’re trying to find them." Hayub claimed the men were Taliban. "They’ve tried to do this kind of thing so many times," he said. Later Monday, Mullah Abdul Hakim Latifi, a Taliban spokesman, called The Associated Press to claim responsibility. "He is in our custody. He is safe," Latifi said. Conditions for his release would be announced later, he said by satellite telephone. He said the two people shot were hit by accident when the kidnappers wanted to deter them from trying to rescue the victim.
| "Yeah! We tried to shoot over their heads, but they were just too tall!" |
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