Bodies of 3 kidnapped foreigners found

The bodies of three foreigners, kidnapped earlier on Thursday in the Afghan capital Kabul, have been found, the Police said.

Kabul Police spokesman, Hashmat Stanakzai, said that initial reports suggest the victims were Macedonian, Indonesian and Indian nationals.

The men were kidnapped from the eastern neighbourhood of Kabul city at around 8.00 a.m. (03.30 GMT) and their bodies were found in Musayi district of the wider province, two or three hours later, Stanakzai said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In another development, at least nine civilians were killed in separate roadside bombings in two southern Afghan provinces, a spokesman for the provincial governor, Omar Zwak, said.

He said the victims, including four children, were killed after two roadside bombings in Gerishk district of Helmand province.

He blamed the attacks on the Taliban.

Meanwhile, in Arghistan, spokesman for the province’s Police Chief, Ahmadzai Durrani, said a district close to the Pakistani border in Kandahar province, a roadside bomb killed at least three local residents.

“Three others were also wounded in the incident.

“All the victims were members of the same family,’’ Durrani said.

Such improvised explosive devices (IEDs) accounted for 45 per cent of all civilian casualties in the war-torn country, in the first six months of the year, according to the UN’s Assistance Mission for Afghanistan.