KABUL, Afghanistan
Three Indian engineers who were kidnapped in eastern Afghanistan three days earlier have been freed following a special operation conducted by the Afghan intelligence organization NDS, the agency said Saturday.
Taliban insurgents abducted three Indian civil engineers who were working for the OASIS construction firm on Wednesday while the engineers were en route to the capital, Kabul, from eastern Logar province, the NDS said in a written statement.
It said the Taliban was attempting to take the engineers to the western Pakistani city of Quetta, capital of the Balochistan province.
Emerging in the early 1990s, the Taliban movement has been active primarily in Pashtun areas straddling Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has been struggling to enforce an austere version of Islamic religious law, known as Sharia, in regions under its control.
Over the years, the group has been responsible for a number kidnappings of engineers, including Turks and Indians.
The NDS said a suspect was detained during the operation.
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