Indian worker, driver kidnapped in south Afghan

Kandahar (Afghanistan), Apr 28: Gunmen kidnapped an Indian telecommunications worker and his Afghan driver in southern Afghanistan today and Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility.

Security is a major worry in Afghanistan with Taliban attacks mounting as NATO is set to double its peacekeeping operations and the United States is hoping to cut its Afghan force by several thousand.

The Indian and his driver were kidnapped after gunmen stopped their car on a main road in the southern province of Zabul, said Gulab Shah, spokesman for the provincial governor.

A Taliban spokesman said by telephone from an undisclosed location Taliban fighters had kidnapped the two and a Taliban council would decide their fate.

US and Afghan opposition forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001 after the Islamists refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Taliban and other militants have waged an insurgency against US-led foreign troops and government forces since then.

Militants have kidnapped foreign company workers, who the Taliban say are supporting the Western-backed government.

The level of violence in some parts of the Afghan south and east is the worst it has been since 2001.

Earlier today, a roadside blast hit an Afghan police chief's vehicle in the southern province of Kandahar, wounding two of his men.

''A remote-control mine blew up and two of my men are wounded but I'm OK,'' said Niaz Mohammad, police chief in Daman district.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast on the outskirts of Kandahar town but the Taliban have claimed a string of similar roadside blasts and suicide car-bomb attacks.

In a separate incident, the U.S. military said a helicopter made a hard landing with a mechanical fault during an operation in Zabul, to the north of Kandahar. One soldier was injured.

The US military gave no details of the operation but Zabul is one of the southern and eastern provinces worst hit by the insurgency.

REUTERS