AP Features, June 7th, 2007
The body of a slain top Taliban commander was retrieved by his family Thursday, and in exchange militants released four kidnapped Afghan medical workers, a purported Taliban spokesman and a captive said.
The beheaded body of a fifth kidnapped medical worker was left in southern Helmand province's Kajaki district, where his family could retrieve it, Shuhabuddin Athul, who claims to speak for the militants, said in a telephone call from an unknown location to an Associated Press reporter.
Musa, one of the released captives who goes by one name, told AP by phone that the militants released the four in Gereshk district, Helmand, on Thursday morning and that they were later taken to Kandahar.
"This morning the Taliban blindfolded us and put us in a vehicle," Musa said. "In Gereshk they opened our eyes and told us to go since our relatives were waiting."
The militants killed one health worker Tuesday because the government didn't hand over the body of commander Mullah Dadullah in time, said Athul, whose exact ties to the militant leadership are not known.
"Two days ago they took Dr. Khalil," from the room where captives were held throughout this time, Musa said. "We do not know whether he is alive or dead."
The militia had warned on Tuesday that one of the hostages would be killed each day until authorities returned the body of Dadullah, who was killed during an operation in southern Afghanistan last month.
The health workers _ a doctor, three nurses and a driver _ were kidnapped by suspected Taliban militants in Kandahar's Zhari district on March 27 after they had administered vaccines and other treatment at a refugee camp, officials said.
Musa said the militants did not mistreat them, served them food and allowed them to pray.
"We were not expecting to be released," Musa said. "We are very happy to return home safely."
President Hamid Karzai ordered Monday that the body of Dadullah be released in exchange for the freedom of the five Afghan health workers.
The decision followed an exchange demand from Mansoor Dadullah, the brother of the slain commander, who now heads militant operations in southern Afghanistan.
Mullah Dadullah was the second top-tier Taliban field commander to die in six months, after a U.S. airstrike killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani in December.
