Civilians among 20 killed in latest Afghan violence (Roundup)

Dec 23, 2007, 15:19 GMT

Kabul - The Taliban executed seven men they had abducted in Afghanistan's south-eastern region, while 10 Taliban fighters and three civilians were killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.

A Taliban spokesman claimed that their forces had killed three Afghan policemen, two National Army soldiers and two truck drivers working for a foreign company on Sunday in the country's south- eastern province of Ghazni, police and Taliban officials said.

The seven hostages, who had been kidnapped by the group on December 17 and 18 on the notorious Kabul-Kandahar highway were apparently shot dead while attempting to escape, Taliban spokesman Zabyullah Mujahed told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by phone from an undisclosed location.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Provincial Police Chief of Ghazni, Mohammad Zaman, confirmed that some of the bodies had been recovered, and police were looking for remaining hostages.

The Taliban have carried out several kidnappings this year, many of them on the highway linking the capital with the troubled southern province of Kandahar, and have in some cases succeeded in securing the release of several of their jailed comrades in exchange for hostages.

In July, the Taliban kidnapped 23 South Korean Christian volunteers on the same Kabul-Kandahar highway but released the hostages after killing two of the group members.

The whereabouts of a German citizen, kidnapped a week ago in Western Herat province are still unknown, although the Taliban have not claimed responsibility and local authorities have expressed doubt about the group's involvement.

Harald Kleber, 42, was abducted by armed gunmen Sunday in circumstances that remain unclear. Police have been conducting an intense search for the German, who changed his name to Abdul Rahman after converting to Islam.

Police in the province have arrested four family members of the abducted man's wife, suspecting that a family dispute was behind his kidnapping.

Elsewhere, three civilians including a woman and two men were killed and two others were wounded on Sunday when their vehicle was struck by a roadside mine in Khost province, near the Pakistani border, Mohammad Ayoub Khan, the provincial police chief, said.

He said the mine had been newly planted in the area, which is often patrolled by Afghan and ISAF troops in the province.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Defence Ministry claimed that their forces backed by international troops had killed ten Taliban militants in the Mianishin district of Kandahar province on Friday.

Four Afghan army soldiers were also wounded during the firefight, the Ministry said in a statement.

Around 6,300 people - mostly Taliban militants - have been killed in militancy this year, making it the bloodiest period since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001.