Posted on 11/23/2005 9:06:40 AM PST by indcons
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan police on Wednesday found the decapitated body of an Indian man who Taliban insurgents said they kidnapped and executed, a provincial official said.
The body of the engineer, who had been working on a road project, was found on a dirt road in the southern province of Nimroz, said Mohammad Hashim, a district chief in the province.
"Police have found the body of the Indian national and I can confirm that he has been killed," Hashim told Reuters.
The young man had been beheaded, according to Amanullah Khan, chief of highway police in the province.
The head was placed with the body and a note, apparently written in English was also found, Khan said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a statement in New Delhi condemning the Taliban and referred to the slain engineer, Maniyappan Raman Kutty, as a "soldier of peace".
"I condemn this cowardly and brutal murder of a brave Indian, who was working in the cause of peace and development far from his home country, which reflects the cruel and inhuman character of the Taliban and the forces they represent," Singh said.
Kutty, from India's state-run Border Roads Organisation, was abducted from his car along with an Afghan driver and two guards in Nimroz on Saturday.
A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, said on Tuesday Kutty had been killed after a deadline for his company to announce its withdrawal from Afghanistan had passed.
Kutty's driver was released but the Taliban spokesman said the fate of the two guards had yet to be decided.
A separate statement issued by India's foreign ministry reaffirmed India's commitment to helping Afghanistan's economic recovery, and said the Afghan authorities had been asked to ensure the safety of Indians working there.
India has good relations with Afghanistan and hundreds of Indians are working on Afghan reconstruction projects.
In the past the Taliban have kidnapped several Indian and Turkish engineers involved in rebuilding roads.
Two Indians seized by suspected Taliban members while working on a U.S.-funded road project in late 2003 were released unharmed after nearly three weeks in captivity.
A Turkish national was killed but several others were freed, apparently after ransoms were paid.
In September, Taliban guerrillas abducted and killed a Briton involved in a road project in Farah province in the west.
Kutty's killing comes amid a spate of insurgent violence.
On Tuesday, a U.S. soldier and an Afghan interpreter were killed when a roadside bomb struck their armoured vehicle in the central province of Uruzgan during an anti-militant operation by U.S.-led troops.
U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001 after the radical Islamists refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
I'll wait for the left to decide that this form of torture should be condemned.
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=10858
A family in Kerala becomes hostage to terror
Don Sebastian
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 00:50 IST
CHINGOLI: Maniappan R Kutty (35) left New Delhi for Afghanistan on November 8, the day he was supposed to join his family in this tiny village 44km south of Alappuzha in Kerala.
Ten days later, the familys disappointment turned to horror when an officer from the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) called to say that Maniappan had been abducted.
Taliban rebels, who are holding Maniappan and three Afghans, have threatened to execute him unless the BRO pulls out of the country within 48 hours.
Maniappans family, consisting of father, mother, wife, and two sons, is not alone in its hour of trauma. With hope battling despair, relatives and neighbours have camped in their three-room house ever since news of the abduction came in on Sunday evening, monitoring the television and attending to phone calls.
Maniappans mother and wife are inconsolable. The last time Bindu received a call from her husband was on November 10, as soon as he reached Afghanistan.
Now she hardly speaks even to her children.
Ajay (7) knows something is wrong. "Father called from Afghanistan. He told me to study well," he says. Akshay (2) is crying constantly, annoyed by his mother's silence.
Maniappan had been working for the BRO in Meghalaya as a truck driver since September 9, 1994. He came home seven months ago with jaundice. His father, Ramankutty, hangs on to the assurances given by BRO officials in New Delhi and Meghalaya. "An officer called up twice," he said. "He said they have left aside all other assignments to track Maniappan. There is nothing to fear."
In an adjacent room, Moni cries for her son. Someone tries to console her: "Just now they were showing him (his photograph) on TV. In half an hour they will show him again. There's nothing to worry."
Under a blue tarpaulin in the courtyard, neighbours keep an eye on the TV set for any information on Maniappan. Ajay and Akshay, suffocated by the grief inside the house, join them.
Maniappan is the family's sole earning member. His house is situated 7km from National Highway 47, accessible only by a narrow footpath. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy visited the family in the evening. He has sent letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed urging them to save the hostage.
Maniappan's family has had a long association with the General Reserve Engineering Force of the BRO. His cousins, L Ravikumar and A Pushpakumar, serve in Jammu & Kashmir and Assam, respectively. His maternal uncle, K Krishnankutty, returned home on October 2 after 38 years of service with the GREF. Another uncle, K Anandanm, was also with the GREF.
Now, all of them wait anxiously as the clock ticks away.
No panties so no torture.
I'm afriad it will be a long wait before the left decides to condemn the jihadis :(
On a related note, MSNBC's Chris Matthews says, "America's enemy in the war on terror is not evil -- they just have a different perspective."
ROPMA bttt!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1305557.cms
Kidnapped man's body found, India expresses shock
NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday expressed deep shock at the killing of an Indian construction worker by suspected Taliban rebels in Afghanistan and called for swift justice.
"We strongly condemn this inhuman and barbaric act against an innocent person. The Taliban and its backers bear the responsibility for the consequences of this outrageous act," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement.
"We earnestly hope that the perpetrators will be brought to justice swiftly," it said.
Afghan police on Wednesday found the body of an Indian dumped by the roadside with his throat slashed after he was kidnapped by suspected Taliban rebels on Saturday, a district governor said.
A note written in English was pinned to the corpse of the hostage, who was seized on Saturday, said Mohammed Hashim Noorzai, a district governor in the volatile southwestern province of Nimroz.
"The body found is the body of the Indian roadworker. He has been slaughtered, his throat has been cut," Noorzai told AFP.
The fundamentalist Taliban regime, ousted by US-led forces in late 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden, claimed responsibility for killing the worker, named in the Indian media as M.R. Kutty from southern Kerala state.
New Delhi said the killing would not affect its assistance of the Afghanistan government in its reconstruction efforts.
Pull out 10 Taliban scum form Indian prisons in J&K and hang them immediately. Sadly, I don't think the Indian govt. has the gonads to do it.
"...was abducted from his car along with an Afghan driver and two guards..."
What were the guards doing?
The Taliban may have had inside support from the guards. I am just guessing here because you raise a relevant point.
The driver and the two guards are the three Afghans who were captured along with the Indian, but were let off. The Blood-thirst is only for infidel-type blood.
Folking barbarians..
If only the Neo-con Hindus would abandon all support for Israel, Indians would be safe from such attacks. < /sarcasm >
What we can do is pump in more weapons and military aid to the Northan Alliance if they promise to take out the culprits. I would assume they would be more than willing to help.
When in Afghanistan do as the Afghans.
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