US contractors abducted, then released

Five employees of an American private security company, USPI, were abducted and later set free in the southern province of Helmand on January 22, officials said. According to the head of Girishk district, Haji Khan Mohammad, suspected Taleban militants hijacked a vehicle belonging to USPI which was carrying four adults and a child at the time, while it was travelling on the Kandahar-Herat highway. Police set off in pursuit and secured the safe release of the hostages. Self-styled Taleban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said the militants set their captives free because they were Afghans. One of the freed men, Mohammad Daud, said that some of their abductors wanted to kill them, while others objected that they should not kill civilians, especially a child.