Prime Minister condemns killing of Suryanarayan

New Delhi, Apr 30: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today condemned the killing of Indian telecommunications worker Suryanarayan by the Taliban in Kandahar.

Expressing grief and sorrow on the Taliban's inhuman and heinous act of killing of an innocent Indian civilian, Dr Singh asked the nation to be united in its fight against terrorism.

The Prime Minister also talked to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekara Reddy and asked him to convey his sympathy and condolence to the wife of the deceased.

The engineer, working with a Bahrain-based company Al-Moayed and engaged in a telecom project in Afghanistan, was abducted on Friday in Hassan Kareiz district of Zabul on Kandahar-Kabul highway along with his Afghan driver.

Suryanarayanas family in Hyderabad had appealed to the abductors to free him without any harm and urged the government to ensure their reunion with the father of three.

Taliban insurgents yesterday vowed to kill the engineer unless India withdrew all its workers from Afghanistan in 24 hours.

UNI