Afghan forces “surround” gunmen holding Briton

By Yousuf Azimy

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan forces have surrounded a village
where gunmen are believed to be holding a British man and his
Afghan interpreter, kidnapped after a deadly attack on their
convoy, a provincial official said on Saturday.

Gunmen seized the unidentified Briton, who was working on
security for a road project in the west of the country, and his
interpreter after ambushing them and killing three police
escorts on Wednesday.

“ANA forces have completely surrounded the area and
coalition forces have set up checkpoints on every single
route,” the governor of Farah province, Izatullah Wasifi, told
Reuters, referring to the U.S.-trained Afghan National Army.

Taliban guerrillas, who have not been known to operate in
force in the west, say they kidnapped the British man. The
Interior Ministry says criminals were responsible although they
might be working for the Taliban.

A Taliban spokesman said a Taliban council, or shura, would
decide the British man’s fate on Saturday. The spokesman, Abdul
Latif Hakimi, has denied holding an Afghan interpreter.

Wasifi said the gunmen and their hostages are believed to
be in a remote mountain village called Zerkoh Balabaluk.

He said on Friday a delegation of tribal elders was being
gathered to go to the village and talk to the gunmen but on
Saturday, when asked if the delegation had set off, he said no
progress had been made.

He declined to elaborate but said the kidnappers had not
issued any demands.

SECURITY WOES

The Wednesday attack took place on the main road between
the southwestern city of Kandahar and the western city of
Herat.

Wasifi said he did not know who the kidnappers were but
they might be Taliban.

Neither the government nor the British embassy in Kabul
have released the man’s name but the Taliban spokesman
identified him as David and said he had suffered a slight hand
wound.

The private U.S. security company guarding construction
teams in the west of the country, U.S. Protection and
Investigations, has declined to comment.

Nearly four years after U.S.-led forces forced the Taliban
from power, security remains a major problem in Afghanistan.

Taliban guerrillas are battling about 20,000 U.S. troops,
mostly in the south and east. About 10,000 NATO-led
peacekeepers operate mostly in Kabul, the north and the west.

About 1,000 people, including 49 U.S. troops, have been
killed in a surge of violence this year, but Afghan and U.S.
officials say September 18 elections will not be disrupted.

Suspected Taliban members have kidnapped several foreigners
working on road projects but have released them unharmed after
ransoms were paid.

Gunmen kidnapped an Italian aid worker in Kabul in May. She
was released unharmed after more than three weeks. Her captors
were members of a criminal gang, the government said.

A British aid worker was shot dead in Kabul in March. That
killing has not been solved.

(Additional reporting by Saeed Ali Achakzai)