Kabul rules out hostage deal as bomber kills two

Kabul, Apr 15: A suspected Taliban suicide bomber killed two Afghan policeman and wounded another today near the border with Pakistan, officials said, as the government again ruled out any prisoner swap to free two French hostages.

The bomber rammed his car into a police vehicle in the eastern town of Spin Boldak, a provincial government official said.

The attack came a day after another suicide bomber, this time on foot, killed seven border police and a civilian in Khost north of Spin Boldak.

US-led coalition forces yesterday said they and Afghan troops had killed 35 Taliban in a fierce 5-hour battle late last week.

The Taliban have vowed to step up suicide bombings as fighting against US-led forces intensifies after the traditional winter lull.

The Taliban have also kidnapped three foreigners and several Afghans this year in a bid to press the government to release comrades from jail and to begin peace talks.

They released a brief black-and-white video of two French aid workers, a woman who calls herself only Celine and a man who calls himself Eric, pleading for help from the French government, yesterday.

In a tearful video, they said they would be beheaded and their heads sent home to France if Paris ignored the Taliban's demands.

But the Taliban have issued no public ransom demand for their release. However, Italian Daniele Mastrogiacomo kidnapped in Helmand province last month was freed after two weeks when Kabul released five senior Taliban prisoners.

His Afghan driver and translator were beheaded.

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta today repeated President Hamid Karzai's pledge there would be no more hostage swaps.

''We will avoid the exchange of hostages with the criminals,'' Spanta told reporters. ''If we do it once or twice, it will become a procedure. It won't have an end.'' The Mastrogiacomo deal drew bitter criticism in Italy and Afghanistan for encouraging the Taliban to take more hostages. They already hold five Afghan healthworkers and have threatened to kill one unless the government starts peace talks.

However, Karzai's palace said yesterday French President Jaques Chirac had phoned the Afghan leader to ask for help.

''President Hamid Karzai assured President Chirac that the relevant Afghan institutions will spare no effort in securing the release of the kidnapped French nationals and their Afghan colleagues,'' the palace said in a statement.

Last year was the bloodiest since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 and many expect this year to be even more violent.

Several hundred civilians, scores of Taliban, dozens of Afghan forces, some aid workers and more than 30 US-led troops have died so far this year.

REUTERS

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