Ten Iranian engineers kidnapped in Afghanistan

KABUL, April 18 (AFP): Ten Iranian engineers and five of their Afghan colleagues were kidnapped by Taliban gunmen on Monday in a remote western region of Afghanistan near the border with Iran, an official said. The men, who were working on a road construction project, were snatched at gunpoint in the Post-i-Road district of Farah province, which borders Iran, provincial government spokesman Naqibullah Farahi told AFP. "The engineers were kidnapped from Post-i-Road district of Farah province by the Taliban," he said. Taliban spokesman Yusuf Ahmadi told AFP by telephone that the insurgent group had no knowledge of the kidnapping, although the rebels have been responsible for similar abductions in the past.