Fears mount for UN hostages

2004-11-05 15:26

Kabul - Afghan authorities have lost trace of three United Nations hostages and their kidnappers, as the latest in a series of deadlines for their threatened execution by a Taliban splinter group passed on Friday without word.

"We know that they are still in Afghanistan but we don't know exactly where," interior ministry spokesperson Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.

"We are trying to locate them."

In the days immediately following the October 28 abduction of the three foreign election workers, Afghan authorities were confident the trio were being kept close to the north-west outskirts of Kabul somewhere in the Paghman valley, a known lair of kidnappers, bandits, and some Islamic extremists.

May be outside Kabul

But nine days on, investigators have begun to concede they may have been spirited out of the Paghman valley to provinces beyond Kabul.

"The hostages have been taken out of Kabul province," an official close to the investigation said.

The kidnappers' fourth deadline expired at 10:00 with no word on the fate of Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Shqipe Habibi from Kosovo, and Angelito Nayan from the Philippines, who were snatched at gunpoint from their vehicle in busy lunchtime traffic in Kabul.

Mashal said there had been "progress" in seeking a "peaceful release" but would not elaborate.

"We continue our efforts to gain their release peacefully - progress has been made in this regard," he said.

The United Nations was increasingly worried about its employees' condition.

"Given the extreme harsh conditions we have serious concerns for their health. The psychological pressure must be tremendous, not knowing what will happen from one day to the next, away from their friends and families," UN spokesperson Manoel de Almeida e Silva said late on Thursday.

"We ask those holding them to release them immediately and unharmed."

The three hostages had been helping to oversee Afghanistan's first presidential election.

Jaishul-Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), a newly-emerged Taliban faction, claims to be holding them and has issued a video of the three and Flanigan's credit card number to prove its claims.

The group has demanded that all foreign forces and UN agencies quit Afghanistan and that the United States release all Taliban prisoners in its custody.

Too ill to speak

At least five men claiming to speak on behalf of the group have been in contact with journalists and said they had been negotiating with mediators representing the UN and Afghan authorities.

One of the hostages had fallen so ill she could not speak, said Mohammad Sharif, who described himself as part of Jaishul Muslimeen's 10-member council.

He did not identify which hostage was ill or the nature of the illness.

The abduction has cast a pall over the otherwise peaceful October 9 elections and US-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai's resounding victory.

- AFP