AFGHANISTAN: Body of German kidnapped by Taliban arrives in Kabul

The body of a German hostage has been transported to a police station in Kabul as residents of the Afghan capital condemn the kidnapping of foreigners by Taliban militants. The body of one of the two German nationals held by Taliban captors was transported to a police station in Kabul on Sunday (July 22). It had been found in Wardak province, north of Ghazni. Doctors conducting a post-mortem concluded the German national had died of a gunshot wound, a security analyst said. A Taliban spokesman said militants had killed two German hostages on Saturday after Berlin refused to yield to demands for it to pull its troops out of Afghanistan and for Afghanistan to release all Taliban prisoners. German authorities cast doubt on the authority of the Taliban spokesman, and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said analysis suggested one of the German hostages was alive while the other had died of "stress and strain". The online edition of German weekly Der Spiegel said the dead German hostage, identified only as Ruediger B., was diabetic and died after his kidnappers failed to get him the necessary medication. In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would not give in to the demands of kidnappers to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. On the streets of Kabul people were angry at the hostage taking. Haji Tahya Khan says if foreigners leave the country because of the danger of being seized, the risk of anarchy and insecurity in the country will be heightened. He said the international community should "call on Pakistan and Iran to stop interfering in Afghanistan." The area south of Kabul where the Germans were seized this week has seen a marked escalation of violence in the last month as Taliban militants have moved in from the south.

ITN Source | July 23, 2007

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