Mine clearers held in Afghanistan (and 2 NATO troops killed)

Source: BBC News

Last Updated: Friday, 7 September 2007, 09:43 GMT 10:43 UK

Mine clearers held in Afghanistan

Thirteen Afghan mine clearers have been kidnapped
in eastern Paktia province.

The de-miners were travelling in two cars around
midday on Thursday when insurgents stopped them
and abducted them, Paktia's police chief said.

The agency the men work for said it was impossible
to say who the kidnappers were. Tribal elders are
now working together to secure the men's release.

Separately, two more troops from the Nato-led
intervention force, Isaf, have died in bomb
explosions.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6983172.stm

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Source: Canadian Press

Two NATO soldiers, 40 insurgents killed in southern Afghanistan

4 hours ago

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Police and villagers hunted
Friday for 13 mine-clearing workers kidnapped in a
restive part Afghanistan, a day after two NATO soldiers
and more than 20 insurgents were killed in fierce
fighting.

The de-miners, all Afghans working for a UN-funded land
mine-clearance agency, were kidnapped Wednesday in
eastern Paktia province on the border with Pakistan,
said provincial deputy police chief Ghulam Dastager.

"We have nothing to do with politicians, the people of
the area asked us to come," said Kefayatullah Eblagh,
the head of Afghan Technical Consultants, the de-mining
agency.

In the past, Taliban insurgents have abducted de-miners
and occasionally killed them, but Dastager said it was
too early to speculate on the identity or motives of the
kidnappers, noting criminal gangs also frequently take
hostages for ransom.

-snip-

Read more: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iuUFLvf7TyUFJsvVeXjNzKzTOODA