Taliban stop bus and kidnap Koreans-police

KABUL, July 20 (Reuters) Taliban insurgents stopped a bus in Afghanistan and kidnapped some of the passengers, including Korean citizens, a local police chief said today.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Kandahar to the capital Kabul yesterday when Taliban rebels stopped it in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, the local police chief Khowaja Mohammad Sadeeq told Reuters.

It was not immediately clear how many passengers had been abducted. Local Taliban commander Mohammad Sharif took responsibility.

Taliban insurgents have kidnapped a number of foreign nationals as part of their campaign to overthrow the Afghan government and drive out its Western backers.

Two Germans and six Afghans were abducted southwest of Kabul on Wednesday and are still missing.

One German national was kidnapped in western Afghanistan this month, but was released unharmed after few days.

The Taliban kidnapped two French aid workers and three of their Afghan colleagues in southwestern Afghanistan in April but later released them unharmed.

REUTERS AM VV0921