ID :
176856
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 15:41
Auther :

Embassy: Abduction of Iranians in Afghanistan Plotted by Foreign States

TEHRAN, April 20 (FNA)- The Iranian embassy in Kabul said on Tuesday that foreign states have contributed a major role in the Sunday abduction of 12 Iranian engineers in Afghanistan's Western Farah province.
"Foreigners have had a hand in the abduction of the Iranian nationals," a statement by the Iranian embassy in Kabul said.

The statement further quoted Ambassador Fada Hossein Maleki as also saying that one of the abducted engineers was freed, while others were allowed to contact their families.

Maleki further assured that the Afghan government and the Islamic Republic of Iran's embassy in Kabul continue their joint efforts to set the Iranian nationals free.

"In the early moments after receiving the news of the abduction of the Iranian nationals, intense efforts were made through continued contacts with the highest-ranking political and security officials of Afghanistan to secure the health and freedom of these individuals," he added in the statement.

Kabul officials revealed on Monday that a dozen Iranian engineers along with five Afghan nationals were abducted in Western Afghanistan on Sunday.

"These individuals were abducted with their two cars in the Hassan-Abad region of this province yesterday afternoon," Spokesman of the Governor of Afghanistan's Western Farah province Naqibollah Farahi told FNA on Monday.

"The abducted individuals were working in a construction company and were building a training center for the Afghan police," Farahi added.

The Afghan spokesman also said that Afghan authorities are trying to secure their freedom.

Taliban militants had in the past been blamed for kidnapping of aid workers and government service members in the war-torn country but no group or individual has yet claimed responsibility for the yesterday attack.

Farah province is located in Afghanistan's Western borders with Iran.

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