Taliban say 'mistakenly' kidnap six journalists in eastern Afghanistan

Taliban have abducted at least six Afghan journalists working for private and government media organizations in eastern Afghanistan, government officials and the militant group say.

Local Afghan officials said on Saturday that the reporters were abducted the previous day while they were traveling together from neighboring Paktika province to Paktia to attend a media workshop.

“We are trying to negotiate their release with the Taliban,” media outlets quoted Abdullah Hasrat, a spokesman for Paktia’s governor, as saying.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the six journalists were “mistakenly” kidnapped by their militant group, adding that they will be released soon.

“Yes, our mujahideens (fighters) have mistakenly kidnapped them,” media outlets quoted Mujahid as saying.

“Right now mobile services are not working, but they will be released as soon as we establish contact with the local commander,” he said.

The journalists were reportedly working for radio and TV news companies that broadcast news in the Pashto and Dari languages.

Last month, a magnetic explosive device attached to bus carrying media workers in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed at least two people and injured four others.

In a separate development, the Pentagon says it has identified the US soldier who was killed Thursday by a car bombing in Kabul.

The Defense Department said in a statement late Friday that Sgt. 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz, 34, from Morovis, Puerto Rico, was killed in action when an explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

He was assigned to the 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Ortiz was the fourth US soldiers killed in the past two weeks in the war-ravaged country.

On Thursday, at least 10 people were killed, including a US and a Romanian soldier, and dozens more injured when a car bomb struck a checkpoint in Kabul in an area that houses embassies, government buildings, and local NATO headquarters.

SS