Italian TV shows beheading
2007-04-10 22:58
Rome - An Italian television channel aired footage on Tuesday of the beheading of a driver for an Italian journalist, who was held for about two weeks by Afghanistan's Taliban until Kabul negotiated his release.
The RAI-1 channel beamed images of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his driver, Sayed Agha, and his interpreter, Ajmal Naqshbandi, kneeling blindfolded before some gun-wielding militants.
It then showed Agha being beheaded following which a shaken Mastrogiacomo made an impassioned appeal to Italian authorities to "do something", while underlining that the situation was "very difficult".
The Taliban members have also beheaded Mastrogiacomo's interpreter, who was also a journalist.
The Italian journalist was freed on March 19 after Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered the release of five Taliban prisoners under a controversial deal.
Kidnapping has increasingly become a tactic of the Taliban, who have been waging a guerrilla-style insurgency since they were ousted from power in late 2001 by US-led forces.
- AFP