Taliban say kill Italian reporter's translator

KABUL, Apr 8 (Reuters) The Taliban killed today the Afghan translator of an Italian journalist kidnapped last month after the government refused to free several insurgent prisoners, a rebel official said.

''We waited a lot, but the government failed to meet our demand.

Therefore, we killed him today,'' a spokesman for Taliban military chief Mullah Dadullah, Shahabuddin Aatil, told Reuters by satellite phone.

La Repubblica reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo was kidnapped along with his driver and the translator early last month.

The Taliban freed the Italian after about two weeks when Kabul released five of its senior members, but the group beheaded Mastrogiacomo's driver and held his translator further in a bid to secure the release of more of their men.

The Mastrogiacomo deal has been widely criticised in Italy and Afghanistan, with security experts warning it would trigger more abductions of foreigners.

Last week, two French aid workers -- a man and a woman -- were kidnapped along with three Afghan colleagues in the rugged, lawless Nimroz province between Iran and Afghanistan's opium heartland of Helmand province.

On Friday, President Hamid Karzai ruled out any more prisoner swaps with the Taliban. The Taliban are also holding five Afghan health officials and have demanded the release of more rebels.

The insurgents have not yet issued a ransom demand in return for freeing the French pair.

REUTERS PDM KN1810