Taleban militants on Saturday released the last of approximately 150 Afghan laborers they had abducted nearly a week ago after suspecting the workers of being Afghan soldiers, officials said. Militants stopped three buses of workers constructing an Afghan army base in the western city of Farah and took the laborers hostage on Sept. 21. Government officials and tribal elders pleaded with the militants to release the men, saying they had abducted simple laborers and not soldiers. “The Taleban had received a report that these people were going to join with the Afghan army, that they are receiving training in this camp that they are building,” said Abdul Qadir Daqeq, a provincial council member from Farah. Tribal elders contacted the Taleban militants to plead the workers' case, Daqeq said. The Taleban then took several days to question the laborers to determine whether they were soldiers, he said. The militants released 118 of the workers on Friday, said Khalilullah Rahmani, Farah's provincial police chief. About 30 others were released on Saturday, he said. Three abductees had been released earlier in the week because of illness. One of the reasons the laborers' release was staggered is because the militants split them up into about six groups held by six different militant factions, Daqeq said. He said no ransom was paid and the Taleban didn't demand the release of militants in Afghan prisons in exchange, as they have done in other kidnapping cases. A Taleban spokesman has denied that Taleban insurgents kidnapped the laborers. He couldn't immediately be reached for comment Saturday. Kidnappings in Afghanistan are an increasingly common tactic used by militants and common criminals to instill terror, make political demands and blackmail families or governments for ransom. The Afghan government has released Taleban prisoners in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist, and other countries and families are known to have made large ransom payments to win the release of abductees. In July 2007, Taleban fighters kidnapped 23 South Koreans, killing two and releasing the rest. The kidnapping of 150 people is the first time militants have attempted to abduct and hold such a large group.
