Taliban kidnap Italian accused of spying

KABUL, Mar 6 (Reuters) The Taliban said today they had captured an Italian journalist who they said was spying for British troops in southern Afghanistan, along with two Afghan colleagues.

Guerrilla spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said the reporter worked for La Repubblica, which in Rome said it had lost contact with reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo in Kandahar province since Sunday.

Yousuf, speaking by satellite phone from an undisclosed location, said the reporter had confessed to spying after being picked up in neighbouring Helmand province yesterday.

''He was pretending to be a journalist, but when we investigated we found he's working for the British troops,'' Yousuf said. ''We're interrogating him and the other two.'' Earlier, the Taliban said they had captured a British journalist.

NATO and Afghan forces on Tuesday launched their biggest offensive yet against the Taliban and drug lords in Helmand, one of the country's most dangerous areas.

Italian journalist Gabriele Torsello was kidnapped in Helmand in October and held for three weeks. And a crew working for al Jazeera television -- three Afghans and a Briton -- were held overnight last month while travelling from neighbouring Kandahar to Helmand.

REUTERS SP KP2344