Taliban leader's body swapped for hostages

Afghan president Hamid Karzai ordered the body of a slain top Taliban commander to be exchanged for the release of five Afghan health workers kidnapped in the country’s south, an official said today.

Karzai told “relevant authorities” to swap the body of Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban commander killed last month in southern Afghanistan, for a doctor, three nurses and a driver kidnapped by militants in southern Afghanistan two months ago, said Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the public health ministry.