Peshawar: The Afghan-Taliban have killed
three of the 10 Pakistanis they had abducted from a forest in
Chitral district in northwest Pakistan, police said on Thursday.
The bodies of the three captives had been recovered while
the fate of the remaining seven was unknown, police officials
said.
The bodies of Muhammad Rasul, Misal Khan and Khoedad Khan
have been identified by their relatives.
A group of around 50 Afghan-Taliban militants had
intruded into Chitral district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province
and abducted 10 men working as woodcutters in a forest on
August 28.
All the abducted men belonged to Dhog Dara village of
Upper Dir district, also in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. They were part
of a group of 60 woodcutters hired by a local contractor.
Some of the woodcutters told police that the Afghan-
Taliban were apparently in a great hurry and took away only 10
men after searching two rooms of the house they were living
in.
The alleged delay on the part of police in launching an
operation to trace the abducted men helped the Taliban to
cross into Afghanistan.
Police officials said the Afghan-Taliban had abducted the
10 men in retaliation for the formation of a `qaumi lashkar`
or anti-Taliban militia by the people of Dhog Dara last year.
The Afghan-Taliban had also abducted a Greek social
activist from Chitral in September last year.
PTI
