Taliban report killing Afghan hostage
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 5 June 2007 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Taliban report killing Afghan hostage, 5 June 2007, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/469f5b7ec.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
(RFE/RL)
June 5, 2007 (RFE/RL) – A purported spokesman for the Taliban, Shahabuddin Atal, has said the militants killed one of their Afghan hostages today, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported.
Afghan Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatemi told RFE/RL had said earlier today that Dadullah's body would be exchanged for the release of the five health workers.
A representative of Dadullah's family was expected to receive his body.
A spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, Zalmai Bashari, told RFE/RL after Atal said the captors had killed a hostage that the ministry has no knowledge of the execution.
The Taliban spokesman had threatened that militants would kill all the hostages if the authorities did not hand over Dadullah's body as soon as possible.
Dadullah was killed by U.S.-led forces in May.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition says it killed about two dozen Taliban fighters on June 4 in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.
Taliban fighters reportedly attacked coalition forces with rockets and gunfire in the province's Shah Wali Kot district about 35 kilometers north of Kandahar city.
The coalition says its aircraft bombed three Taliban positions during the four-hour battle, which was on the eastern edge of a defensive perimeter around the strategic Kajaki Dam in neighboring Helmand Province.
(with material from AP, AFP)