Taliban says frees 3 workers for French aid group

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 27 (Reuters) The Taliban said today it had freed three Afghan humanitarian workers kidnapped last month along with two French aid workers who were previously released.

The three workers were released yesterday to tribal elders in Nimroz province in southwestern Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf said.

''We released the three aid workers without asking any money or making any deal with the government,'' he said.

Mohammad Daud Askaryar, the police chief in Nimroz, said he had received intelligence reports that the men had been freed.

The five workers with the French aid group Terre D'Enfance were abducted on April 3 in Nimroz, which is sandwiched between Iran and Afghanistan's opium centre of Helmand province. The group helps children in southwestern Afghanistan.

The two French workers were previously freed, Celine Cordelier on April 28 and Eric Damfreville on May 11. Terre D'Enfance, which was not immediately available for comment, had previously identified the Afghan workers as Hashim, Rasul and Azrat.

After the abductions the Taliban threatened to kill Damfreville.

It demanded that France withdraw its 1,100 troops from Afghanistan and release Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government.

The Taliban, ousted from power by US forces in 2001, have kidnapped a number of foreign and Afghan aid workers and government officials in recent years.

Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, kidnapped in April, was released after two weeks when Kabul freed five senior Taliban prisoners. His Afghan driver was beheaded in front of him before his release and his translator was later beheaded when the government refused to free more Taliban.

The Mastrogiacomo deal was widely criticised in Afghanistan and Italy for encouraging the Taliban to take hostages.

In the Shahwali Koat district of Kandahar, Taliban militants attacked a police post yesterday, killing two officers and wounding two others, a local police official said.

Ten Taliban fighters were killed in the battle.

REUTERS SG RK1505