Wednesday, August 03, 2011 – Dhaka’s foreign minister on Tuesday confirmed that five Bangladeshi construction workers kidnapped in Afghanistan last December were on Tuesday freed by their captors.
According to officials, the Afghan government, with help from local village elders, negotiated the freedom of the workers seven months after they were abducted from their road-building camp near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said,“they are in good health and will be flown back home in seven or eight days.” ,adding that no ransom had been paid.
One Bangladeshi engineer was killed and seven workers were taken hostage when gunmen stormed the remote construction camp run by a South Korean firm between the northern Afghan provinces of Balkh and Samangan. Two of the workers were freed two days later.
The foreign minister further added, it was not clear who had abducted the Bangladeshi workers but said it “could be” the Taliban.
In the meantime, the Taliban insurgent group has denied involvement in the attack but Afghan police officials have blamed they are behind the incident.
Criminal groups and insurgents have kidnapped dozens of foreigners in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. Most have been released unharmed, often after payment of ransoms.
