Indian driver kidnapped by Taliban in Afghanistan

NDTV.com - News on Indian driver kidnapped by Taliban in Afghanistan: "A driver serving with the Indian Border Roads Organisation has been kidnapped in southern Afghanistan.

Three Afghans were also taken away with him.

Taliban militants are said to have claimed responsibility in a call to the security chief of Nimroz province.

Some reports said a spokesman for Taliban, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, rang an international news agency to confirm that its militants kidnapped the four men.

The Indian driver identified as MS Kutty, was part of an engineering unit.

A report from Kandahar quoting the Nimroz provincial Governor Ghulam Dasthaqir said suspected Taliban rebels were behind the seizure.

It said the Indian and the three Afghans were working on a road construction project between the Southern city of Kandahar and Herat in the West.

The four were ambushed as they drove in Nimroz late last night, he said.

The Taliban have kidnapped several Turkish and Indian engineers involved in road works in southern Afghanistan in the past years.

One of the Turkish engineers was killed and the rest were freed, apparently after ransoms were paid. (With PTI inputs)"