Abducted Pole in Pakistan "killed", Polish minister admits

Feb 8, 2009, 13:09 GMT

Munich - A Polish engineer kidnapped by Taliban militants in Pakistan has been killed, Poland's foreign minister said at a security conference in Munich on Sunday, citing 'reliable but unconfirmed' reports.

The group in north west Pakistan holding Peter Stanczak for the past 18 weeks had claimed via a spokesman late Saturday to have executed their hostage, but there had been no official confirmation.

Speaking to the Polish news agency PAP at the conference in Germany on Sunday, Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said: 'The Polish geologist working for the development of Pakistan was killed only yesterday.'

Sikorksi said Stanczak had been killed according to reliable but unconfirmed reports, PAP reported.

   A Taliban spokesman who identified himself as Mohammad told various media organizations over the phone on Saturday that Stanczak was executed after the expiry of a February 6 deadline given to Pakistani and Polish governments to fulfil militants' demands.

Neither government had seemed interested in the release of the captive, claimed Mohammad, who represents the Taliban in the country's tribal district of Darra Adam Khel.

Gunmen ambushed Stanczak's vehicle in Attock district, about 85 kilometres from the capital Islamabad, on September 28. They killed his driver and two guards before snatching the man.

Stanczak worked for Poland-based Geofizyka Krakow Limited, which is exploring natural resource reservoirs in the region.

In October, militants released a video in which Stanczak asked the government to release some Taliban fighters from custody.

The Taliban have intensified attacks on foreign diplomats and aid workers in recent months to avenge military operations against them.

Last Monday, unknown gunmen kidnapped the local head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan's south-western province of Balochistan.