A Taliban commander claimed Friday his outfits have released 118 Afghan labors who were made captive in western Afghan province of Farah.
Mullah Sayed Jan, who identified himself as a Taliban commander in Farah province, told Xinhua that all the labors they captured on September 22 have been released at 6 p.m. (1330 GMT).
"We unconditionally freed those abductees in order to make those people join their families for the coming religious Eid festival," he said.
However, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman denied that Taliban has involved in the abduction, saying Mullah Sayed Jan's outfits do not belong to Taliban and Taliban do not know the initiative of kidnapping local labors.
More than 150 laborers were reportedly abducted in Afghanistan's western Farah province on September 22.
The ill-fated abductees, according to the official, were about to join their families for Eidul Feter, or religious festival, after working for the constructions activities with Afghan army Corps in Herat.
Conflicts and spiraling insurgency have claimed the lives of over 4,000 people, including around 1,445 civilians, so far this year in the war-torn country.
(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2008)
