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Tuesday, November 23, 2004
3 UN hostages were abandoned in Kabul: Afghan official (3:00 p.m.)
KABUL -- Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said Tuesday the three UN workers were "abandoned" in one location inside Kabul around 6 a.m. Tuesday.
The three were released unharmed after nearly four weeks in captivity, officials said Tuesday.
"They are out," UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.
Armed men seized Philippine diplomat Angelito Nayan, British-Irish citizen Annetta Flanigan and Shqipe Hebibi of Kosovo on Oct. 28, the first abduction of foreigners in the Afghan capital since the Taliban fell three years ago.
Jalali said discussions had been held with the kidnappers, whom he declined to identify, but insisted no deal was done and that the releases were unconditional.
"There is no deal with the kidnappers. They will be brought to justice," he told a press conference.
Afghan officials have said they believe a criminal gang carried out the abductions, and have said that negotiations centered on a ransom demand.
Jalali said it was "possible" that a Taliban-linked group, which has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, had hired some criminals to abduct the three who were in Afghanistan to organize Oct. 9 presidential elections.
The group, Jaish-al Muslimeen, or Army of Muslims, had demanded that Afghan and U.S. authorities free jailed comrades.
"I cannot say they were not involved," Jalali said.
The foreigners were freed a day after US and Afghan forces raided two houses in downtown Kabul on Monday and detained 10 people in connection with the abductions.
Most of the detainees were released after being questioned, an Afghan intelligence official said, and it was not clear if the arrest of a doctor who worked at a UN clinic in the city had hastened the hostages' release.
Jalali also said one person was killed and four injured in another police operation linked to the kidnapping north of Kabul on Monday.
Syed Khalid, a spokesman for Jaish-al Muslimeen, told The Associated Press on Tuesday it had freed the hostages overnight against an "assurance that the release of our 24 people would begin today."
His claims could not be verified. Silvestre Afable, Philippine Presidential Communications Director, also insisted there was no prisoner-for-hostage exchange.
The abductions of the trio, seized at gunpoint from a UN vehicle a few hundreds meters (yards) from an election office in Kabul, raised fears that the Afghan capital could become prey to the kind of deadly kidnappings by insurgents that have plagued Iraq. (AP)
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