FACTBOX-Foreign hostages in Afghanistan
Source: Reuters
Aug 10 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban began the first round of face-to-face talks with a South Korean team on Friday over the 21 hostages the group is holding, an Afghan official said. Following are details of reported kidnappings of foreigners in Afghanistan since 2006. * March 2006 - Taliban insurgents say they killed four hostages and dumped their bodies in the Kandahar-Helmand area in southern Afghanistan. The four were abducted on March 11. An official at the Ecolog services company in Kabul said the four hostages, all from Macedonia, were employees. * April 2006 - An Indian engineer, identified as K. Suryanarayan, is found beheaded on April 30 not far from where he was kidnapped near the main road between Qalat and Ghazni. The Taliban claim responsibility. * Oct. 2006 - Gabriele Torsello, a London-based photojournalist who is a Muslim, is kidnapped on Oct. 12 by gunmen after he left by bus from Lashkar-Gah, capital of Helmand province in the south. He is released unharmed on Nov. 3. * March 2007 - The Taliban capture Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo of La Repubblica and two Afghans in Helmand province. He is handed over to the Italian embassy on March 19 but his Afghan driver is beheaded and his translator is killed on April 8. * April 2007 - The Taliban say they have kidnapped Eric Damfreville, a Frenchman, working for Terre d'Enfance aid organisation, his local driver and two other Afghans in Nimroz province. He is released on May 11. A French woman hostage who also worked for Terre d'Enfance is released in late April by the Taliban after three weeks in captivity. * July 2007 - Two German engineers are kidnapped by the Taliban while travelling in Wardak province, southwest of the capital, Kabul. One German was killed, apparently by his captors. The Taliban later say the other German is still being held along with four Afghans. - A group of 23 South Koreans from a church organisation in Bundang, outside Seoul, are kidnapped from a bus travelling from Kabul to Kandahar. On July 25, a church pastor who was leading the group was shot dead. Five days later another male South Korean hostage is shot. Of the remaining 21 Korean hostages, 18 are women.
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