 AN Italian television channel today aired footage of the beheading of a driver of an Italian journalist, who was held for about two weeks by Afghanistan's Taliban militants until Kabul negotiated his release. The RAI-1 channel beamed images of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his driver Sayed Agha and his interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi, kneeling blindfolded before gun-wielding militants. It then showed Agha being beheaded following which a shaken Mastrogiacomo made an impassioned appeal to Italian authorities to "do something," while underlining that the situation was "very difficult".The Taliban have also beheaded Mastrogiacomo's interpreter, who was also a journalist. The Italian journalist was freed on March 19 after Afghani President Hamid Karzai ordered the release of five Taliban prisoners under a controversial deal. Kidnapping has increasingly become a tactic of the Taliban, who have been waging a guerrilla style insurgency since they were ousted from power in late 2001 by US-led forces. |