Afghan kidnappers are thieves not Taliban, claims official

Three UN workers kidnapped in Afghanistan are in the hands of criminals, not the Taliban-linked militants who have threatened to kill them, an Afghan official said today.

Annetta Flanigan, from Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, Philippine diplomat Angelito Nayan and Shqipe Hebibi of Kosovo were seized at gunpoint on October 28 in Kabul after helping organise the country’s presidential election.

A little-known rebel group called Jaish-al Muslimeen, or Army of Muslims, today repeated its demand for the release of jailed comrades in return for sparing their lives.

But a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, which is leading the search for the trio, said it believed that the group was “not holding the hostages.”

“The kidnappers are armed robbers, not Jaish-al Muslimeen,” Latfullah Mashal said. ”We can say they are thieves.”

Mashal said authorities believed that Jaish-al Muslimeen had paid the real kidnappers for a video recording of the hostages, which it used to bolster its claim of responsibility and stir fear that the group was copying the brutal tactics of Iraqi insurgents.

The spokesman said he had no information on any negotiations between the Afghan government and the kidnappers, whom he didn’t identify further.

However, Afghan officials have that talks through intermediaries are snagged on £1.6m (€2.28m) ransom demands.

Security forces were continuing to monitor traffic in the Kabul area to prevent the kidnappers from moving the hostages to a more remote area, Mashal said.

“We don’t have a specific clue on where they are being kept,” he said. “We are trying our best to secure their release.”

Syed Khaled, a spokesman for Jaish-al Muslimeen, insisted on today that its leaders were meeting to discuss what to do with the prisoners.

“The council will decide whether to hand over the hostages to the military men who decide their final fate,” Khaled said in a phone call.

“When we are holding the people, how can others hold talks with the Afghan government?” he said.

The passage of several deadlines set by the militants for the release of 26 jailed comrades – some from US custody – has already cast doubt on their control of the hostages. The US military has ruled out freeing any prisoners.

However, it is unclear whether a criminal group would be less likely to harm the hostages, who have now been in captivity for almost three weeks.

Families and friends of the hostages appealed yesterday for their release in the spirit of Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic festival which ended in Afghanistan on Monday.

“We understand that after 25 years of strife and uncertainty some people in Afghanistan may do desperate things,” they said in a statement. “But the Afghan people are honourable.”

“We dearly hope that the people holding Angelito, Annetta and Shqipe will demonstrate that honour at this holy time and place them somewhere safe where they can be found and restored to us.”