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KABUL: An Afghan news agency reported on Monday that it was able to visit a German engineer and five Afghans kidnapped by Taliban-linked militants in July, finding them held in a dark room and desperate for help.
Engineer Rudolf Blechschmidt told the independent Pahjwok Afghan News that it would be difficult for them to survive in the conditions in which they were being held, said the news agency, which has video recording of the men.
"The Afghan and German governments should step up efforts for our release," 62-year-old Blechschmidt told the reporter.
Pahjwok said the six, abducted on July 18 in the province of Wardak near Kabul, were being held in a remote and mountainous area of the southern province of Ghazni.
Taliban insurgents abducted 23 South Koreans in Ghazni a day after the German and his group, and killed two of them before freeing the remainder in August.
The Taliban has claimed its men are holding the German but it is not clear to what extent the militia is actually involved.
When the Pahjwok team was able to visit, the six men were being held in a dark room and being watched by hooded gunmen. Even though winter was setting in, they had only one blanket between them, the agency said on its website.
One of men guarding them said: "Either the German government will have to pull out its troops from Afghanistan or the Afghan government will have to release our prisoners."
One of the captives, identified as the owner of a construction company, who is called Haji Javed, said the government should accept the demands to save their lives. "They should rescue us as soon as possible," he pleaded.
Four workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross were abducted September 26 while returning from a mission to try to free the German and the Afghans.
The Taliban said the four -- two of them foreigners -- were captured "by mistake." They were released after three nights. - AFP/ac
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