Taliban say issue video of French hostages: Web

Dubai, Apr 14: Taliban guerrillas said they have issued a video of two kidnapped French aid workers appealing to France to heed their captors' demands, according to a Web statement posted today.

In an Arabic-language statement posted on the Internet, the Taliban said: ''In this film the two French hostages ask the French government and parliament to accept the mujahideen's demands so that they can be freed.'' It said the video was distributed to journalists in Kabul yesterday.

The Web posting carried pictures of a man and a woman, as well as a photograph showing three blindfolded men apparently the three Afghans who went missing along with the pair earlier this month.

The French man and woman, who work for a French aid agency, went missing with their local driver and two others in an area of southwestern Nimroz province where there has been a rash of Taliban attacks. On April 5, Taliban guerrillas said they had abducted them.

Reuters