Hostages Recaptured
September 27, 2007
The Afghans who had been kidnapped along with the 62-year-old German in July were also recaptured, according to news agency reports. Additionally, two foreign aid workers for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and their two local drivers, all of whom were supposed to return the hostages to Kabul, were also being held by militants, Germany's DPA news agency reported.
A spokesman for the Red Cross in Berlin said that the German engineer, Rudolf B., was never handed over to the aid workers sent to retrieve him.
"The handover could not take place, and our workers were returning to Kabul empty-handed," Fredrik Barkenhammar told Reuters.
A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said a crisis team in Berlin and the German Embassy in Afghanistan were continuing their efforts to secure the engineer's safe release.
A police action Thursday following the alleged release of German man, identified only as Rudolf B, prompted the rebels to re-kidnap the hostages in the Wardak province, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) west of Kabul, provincial authorities and militants claiming to be part of the Taliban told the DPA news agency.
Red Cross working for hostages' release
Two of the ICRC members were foreign aid workers who helped free South Korean hostages last month. The other two are Afghan staffers.
"They weren't actually involved in the negotiations, but there was supposed to be an imminent release of a German hostage," and the Afghans accompanying him, ICRC spokeswoman Claudia McGoldrick told the Associated Press. It remains unclear how many Afghans were being held with Rudolf.
German troops remain in Afghanistan
In a video released by the Taliban in August, the German engineer asked that the government do more to secure his release. Berlin rejected the kidnappers' demand that Germany bring home the roughly 3,000 soldiers it has deployed to Afghanistan in exchange for letting the hostages go.
Rudolf B. and his colleague Rüdiger D. were kidnapped in Wardak on July 18. Afghan police found the body of Rüdiger D. four days later. An autopsy showed he had been shot after collapsing from a dizzy spell.