# Foreign hostages in Afghanistan



## GAP (5 Apr 2007)

Foreign hostages in Afghanistan
05 Apr 2007 11:15:04 GMT Source: Reuters
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April 5 (Reuters) - An Afghan provincial governor said on Thursday Taliban guerrillas had kidnapped two French aid workers and three Afghan guides in the remote, desolate southwest.

Following are details of reported kidnappings of foreigners in Afghanistan.

Nov. 2003  - Turkish engineer Hassan Onal is released by Taliban kidnappers after a month in captivity. Onal was seized from a U.S.-funded highway project on Oct. 30.

Dec. 2003 - Two Indians, kidnapped while working on a U.S.-funded road project, are released unharmed.

March 2004  - One Turk is shot and a second kidnapped in an attack in southern Afghanistan. They had been working on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. The kidnapped Turk was later released.

Nov. 2004 - U.N. workers Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Shqipe Hebibi from Kosovo and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan are freed almost four weeks after they were abducted at gunpoint in Kabul. A Taliban splinter faction, Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), said it held them.

Dec. 2004 - A Turkish engineer working on a road-building project between Jalalabad and Kunar is kidnapped. The Interior Ministry later said the body of a kidnapped Turkish construction engineer had been found in eastern Afghanistan.

May 2005  - Clementina Cantoni, an Italian working for the CARE International aid agency, was seized by gunmen in Kabul. She was released unharmed after more than three weeks.

Aug. 2005 - David Addison, a British engineer, was kidnapped when gunmen attacked a convoy in the western province of Farah and killed three police escorts. Addison's body was found on Sept. 3. Taliban rebels said they killed him.

November 2005 -  Taliban guerrillas kidnap P.M. Kutty, an engineer with India's state-run Border Road Organisation, in the Khash Rod district of Nimroz province. He was killed on Nov. 22.

March 2006 - Taliban insurgents say they killed four hostages and dumped their bodies in the Kandahar-Helmand area in southern Afghanistan. The four were abducted on March 11. An official at the Ecolog services company in Kabul said four of its workers, ethnic Albanians from Macedonia, were missing.

April 2006 -  An Indian engineer, identified as K. Suryanarayan, was found beheaded on April 30 not far from where he was kidnapped near the main road between Qalat, and Ghazni to the north. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

Oct. 2006 - Gabriele Torsello, a London-based photojournalist who is a Muslim, was kidnapped on Oct. 12 by gunmen after he left by bus from Lashkar-Gah, capital of Helmand province in the south. He was released unharmed on Nov. 3.

March 2007 - The Taliban captured Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo of La Repubblica and two Afghans in Helmand province. He is handed over to the Italian embassy on March 19. His Afghan driver was beheaded and his translator remains hostage.

April 2007 -  The Taliban say they have kidnapped a French man and woman, working for Terre d'Enfance, along with their local driver and two other Afghans in Nimroz province. 
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## GAP (5 May 2007)

Deadline extended on French hostage
POSTED: 0730 GMT (1530 HKT), May 5, 2007 
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- Afghanistan's Taliban has extended the Saturday deadline for a deal for the release of a kidnapped French aid worker until after presidential elections on Sunday in France, a spokesman said.

The Frenchman, known only as Eric, and his three Afghan colleagues would be freed if at least one of the Taliban's demands were met, spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf added.

The Taliban leadership council had extended the deadline as a sign of mercy, Yousuf told Reuters by phone from an undisclosed location, but had heard nothing from authorities seeking the release of the aid workers.

"Our reaction is clear, we may kill him," he said, when asked what the Taliban would do if none of its conditions were met.

The Taliban last month abducted two French aid workers and three Afghans working for Terre d'Enfance, an agency helping children in southwestern Afghanistan.

A French woman named Celine was released late last month in what the Taliban said was a humanitarian gesture.
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## GAP (11 May 2007)

Second French aid worker released by Taliban
Updated Fri. May. 11 2007 11:12 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
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The second French aid worker held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan has been released and is on his way to Kabul, according to a spokesperson for the militant group.

Eric Damfreville, a worker with Terre d'Enfance, was kidnapped along with Celine Cordelier, another French national, and three Afghan aid workers on April 3 in southwestern Nimroz province.

Cordelier was freed late last month, but the three Afghans are still being held.

The Taliban had originally demanded that French troops pull out of Afghanistan in exchange for the hostages' lives.

"The deadline for their release was extended several times due to the French election," said CTV's Steve Chao, reporting from Kandahar.

"According to Taliban spokesperson Qari Yousef Ahmadi, they now believe that the current president has suggested he will revisit whether French troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan. That was enough for the Taliban. They said due to that public gesture they are releasing Eric Damfreville."

Chao said the freed hostage is healthy and was apparently well treated by his Taliban captors. There is no word on the three Afghan hostages still held by the Taliban.

After she was released, and before she flew home to France, Cordelier spoke briefly at the French embassy in Kabul.
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## GAP (11 May 2007)

Taliban: Sarkozy pledge frees captive
POSTED: 2:34 p.m. EDT, May 11, 2007 
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A French aid worker kidnapped by the Taliban five weeks ago was freed Friday, and the militant group credited the release to comments by France's president-elect that French troops would eventually leave Afghanistan.

The release of Eric Damfreville was confirmed by the International Red Cross, which said its workers had taken custody of the Frenchman, who was abducted along with a female colleague and three Afghans on April 3.

The Taliban released the woman, Celine Cordelier, on April 28. There was no word on the fate of the three Afghans, though France's foreign minister said officials would continue to push for their release.

After taking the group captive, the Taliban demanded the withdrawal of all remaining French troops from Afghanistan. France pulled 200 French special forces out of Afghanistan late last year and still has about 1,000 troops stationed in the country.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the militants, told an Associated Press reporter via telephone that Taliban leaders in coordination with tribal leaders decided to release Damfreville after a speech by French President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy in which he said French troops cannot stay in Afghanistan indefinitely.

"The Taliban is expecting the French president to keep this promise," Ahmadi said. "The Taliban in the future want to have good relations with the French government and people."

French President Jacques Chirac said he was "delighted" to learn of Damfreville's liberation and called for the release of the three Afghans.

"I would like to tell you that French authorities remain mobilized, strongly mobilized, to obtain the liberation of the three Afghan hostages," said French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy

He said Damfreville would return to France following a medical examination.
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