Two Italians rescued in Afghanistan

FE Team | Published: September 25, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

KABUL, Sept 24 (AP): A NATO-led combat operation secured the release of two kidnapped Italian military personnel Monday in western Afghanistan, two days after they went missing, officials said. Initial reports indicated at least five of the kidnappers were killed.
Both Italians were wounded during the operation, one seriously. The two were being treated in a hospital run by NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
"They were freed in an ISAF operation. They were both injured. One is in a more difficult situation than the other," an Italian Embassy official said on condition of anonymity because of embassy policy. "They are free now. They are at a military hospital in the western region."
An Afghan translator and driver who were with the Italians were "found," the official said, adding that he did not know what condition they were in.
NATO troops located the two Italians and attacked the group of kidnappers. Preliminary reports found that five of the kidnappers were killed, though the toll may be higher, the official said.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press on Monday that the Taliban had not kidnapped the Italians. The embassy official said it wasn't clear which insurgent group had kidnapped the Italians.
In March, five Taliban prisoners were freed in exchange for the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist. The head of the Italian aid agency Emergency has said the Rome government also paid a $2 million ransom last year for a kidnapped Italian photographer - a claim Italian officials did not deny.
Meanwhile, ambushes and gunbattles around Afghanistan killed at least 26 people, including 12 government employees and unarmed police killed by gunmen in the relatively calm north, officials said Monday.
In a remote area in northeastern Badakhshan province, three unidentified gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying the police and government employees, killing 12 Sunday, said Badakhshan police chief Gen. Agha Noor Kemtuz.
The attack killed seven policemen and five government employees. They were traveling to Kabul, Kemtuz said.
The police were being transferred to new posts and so were not armed, he said, adding that the violence could have been sparked by a personal conflict between the attackers and the officers.