By Xinhua,
Kabul : Taliban insurgents Friday released 118 labourers they had kept hostage since Monday, claimed a Taliban commander in the Afghanistan province of Farah.
Mullah Sayed Jan, who identified himself as a commander of the militant group in the province, told Xinhua that all the labourers they captured Monday (Sep 22) have been released this evening.
“We unconditionally freed those abductees in order to make those people join their families for the coming religious Eid festival,” he said.
However, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman denied that Taliban was involved in the abduction, saying Mullah Sayed Jan’s outfits do not belong to the Taliban.
More than 150 labourers working for construction activities with Afghan army Corps in Herat were reportedly abducted in the province Monday.
The ill-fated abductees, according to the official, were about to join their families for Eid-ul-Fitr, or religious festival, marking the end of holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Conflicts and spiralling insurgency have claimed the lives of over 4,000 people, including around 1,445 civilians, so far this year in the war-torn country.