Sunday, 19 Aug 2007 18:45
Taliban negotiators in the South Korean hostages case
A video showing the German woman abducted in the Afghan capital of Kabul yesterday has been broadcast on local television.
Christina Meier, who is believed to work for Christian aid organisation Ora International, was kidnapped yesterday lunchtime as she and her husband were eating at a fast food restaurant in the city.
After efforts to stop her abductors ended unsuccessfully police began a search for the missing German and have said they are confident she will be released soon.
But today Tolo TV, a private local channel, broadcast the footage showing her sitting in a small room.
"I'm OK, I want my country to try to help secure my freedom as soon as possible," she says on the tape haltingly in the local Dari language.
A young-looking man wearing sunglasses then appears and demands the release of his comrades.
"We are not bad people. We are a special network," he says, making clear that the kidnappers are not associated with the much larger Taliban.
The abduction is believed to be criminally rather than politically motivated, despite current tensions following a recent wave of kidnappings carried out by the Taliban.
As well as the kidnapping of 23 South Korean Christian workers in Ghazni province on July 19th, two German engineers were held amid demands for Berlin to remove its troops from the country.
The body of one of the two engineers was found after Germany rejected the Taliban's demands.