Afghanistan

Building workers free after mass hostage-taking

Article published on the 2008-09-27 Latest update 2008-09-27 15:51 TU

Afghan President Hamid Karzai with US President george Bush in Washington on Friday
(Photo: Reuters)

The last 30 of 150 Afghan building workers captured on Sunday were freed on Saturday. Officials in Farah province say that they were released after the intervention of tribal elders in the region and that no ransom has been paid.

On Friday 118 of the men, who were captured last Sunday, were released, but the rest were held until Saturday.

"The remaining 30 hostages were freed today. They were freed with the help of the tribal elders and no ransom was paid," Farah deputy provincial governor Mohammad Younis Rasouli told the French news agency AFP.

He said that they were mostly local and had returned home.

The group were carpenters, masons and other workers employed by a US construction company on a project for the Afghan National Army.

The authorities say that their captors were Taliban guerrillas. A man claiming to be the group's provincial representative confirmed the accusation but a more senior spokesperson denied it.

In central Ghazni province officials say that troops backed by gunship helicopters killed five Taliban-linked fighters who had been spotted laying mines on a road.

On Thursday the bullet-riddled bodies of four police officers were found dumped in the province, according to government spokesperson Ismail Jahangir. They had reportedly been kidnapped a few days earlier.

Three more police officers were killed in Ghazni on Friday.