KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 10 A German engineer and his Afghan coworkers were freed after a 3-month hostage ordeal in Afghanistan, a German government official said.
Nearly three months after his abduction, the kidnappers released 62-year-old German engineer Rudolf Blechschmidt and his five Afghan coworkers, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Wednesday.
German TV station ZDF said the hostages were released because Berlin and Afghan authorities exchanged four Afghan prisoners for the men.
Blechschmidt was one of two German engineers working on reconstruction projects who were kidnapped along with their Afghan coworkers on July 18 in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul. The other German engineer died two days after the kidnapping when he was shot after he had collapsed.
A special team of the German Foreign Ministry worked with Afghan government officials to get the man released.
Kidnappings are nothing new to the government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel: Several people were kidnapped over the past two years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of them were released unharmed. It was speculated that Berlin paid large sums of ransom, a rumor that may have triggered other abductions, observers said.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
