Taliban urge Italian troop pullout to free reporter

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, Mar 10 (Reuters) The Taliban today called for the withdrawal of Italian troops from Afghanistan to pave the way for the release of an Italian reporter they are holding on charges of spying.

The Taliban said yesterday they would free Daniele Mastrogiacomo of the newspaper La Repubblica if he could prove he was not a spy.

Mullah Hayatullah Khan, a Taliban spokesman, said the Taliban changed their mind after Italian lower house of parliament voted in favour of keeping Italian troops in Afghanistan.

''This vote has put the life of the reporter in danger,'' Khan told Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

Khan said the demand for the withdrawal of Italian troops had come from Mullah Dadullah, a senior Taliban commander, whose fighters are believed to be holding Mastrogiacomo.

''We are waiting for the response from the Italian and Afghan governments,'' he added.

The Italian lower house on Thursday voted to keep on 1,900 Italian troops, though the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi shunned a request by Britain for allies to send more soldiers to Afghanistan.

The tougher test for the vote will be in the upper house of Senate later this month, where Prodi has a very narrow majority and faces opposition to the Afghan mission from leftist members in the coalition.

Another Taliban official Qari Mohammad Yusuf has also called for the release of three Taliban spokesmen.

Mastrogiacomo was picked up in the lawless southern province of Helmand on Monday along with two Afghan colleagues, and the Taliban said he confessed spying for British troops.

Khan said the Italian reporter ''was alright and okay''.

The Taliban often executes Afghans it accuses of spying, hanging or shooting them in the head or slitting their throats.

La Repubblica denied the reporter was a spy and said the Karachi-born man had been writing for them since 1980 and had been reporting from Afghanistan since February 28.

Italian journalist Gabriele Torsello was kidnapped in Helmand in October and held for three weeks before being released unharmed.

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.

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