Missing Japanese believed locked up in northern Afghanistan: report

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KABUL, April 4 Kyodo -
A Japanese journalist who disappeared in northern Afghanistan last week is in a
jail in Baghlan Province, a local Afghan reporter said Sunday.
The reporter said the information came from local residents in Baghlan,
including eye-witnesses.
The Afghan Interior Ministry said Sunday that Afghan authorities have been
looking for the missing reporter, Kosuke Tsuneoka, 40, in northern Afghanistan,
focusing their search in Baghlan, Kunduz and Sapapul.
Tsuneoka has been missing since heading to Kunduz in northern Afghanistan last
week. He was last heard from on Thursday.
On Sunday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Kyodo News that the
Taliban leadership had made contact with Taliban commanders in the Kunduz area
and all of them denied involvement in the kidnapping.
''We assigned our commanders to find out who had kidnapped the Japanese
journalist. They have reported back that they are not involved in the
kidnapping. They do not know who is holding him,'' Mujahid said.
The top Japanese government spokesman, Hirofumi Hirano, said Friday that
Tsuneoka had been kidnapped but declined to elaborate on the circumstances,
citing ''humanitarian considerations.''
A purported Taliban commander in Kunduz reportedly claimed on Saturday that his
men seized Tsuneoka between Baghlan and Kunduz. He also claimed the Taliban
leadership was unaware of the kidnapping because he had not contacted them. He
said Tsuneoka's release would depend on the Taliban leadership.
''We assure you that we will try to secure the release of the Japanese
journalist even if he was kidnapped by people other than the Taliban. We do not
know who the kidnappers are,'' Mujahid said.
Officials at the Afghan government intelligence agency, which has launched a
search for Tsuneoka, think he might have been kidnapped for ransom, a local
official said.
The Taliban as well as the militant group Hizb-i-Islami and the al-Qaida
network are active in Kunduz. These groups have kidnapped local residents for
ransom in order to secure funds for their operations, according to local
security officials.
There are also gangs of robbers in the province who kidnap people for money and
sometimes claim responsibility in the name of the Taliban, they said.
==Kyodo