Troops Find Body of British Engineer
A kidnapped British engineer was found dead Saturday and two bodies discovered in Afghanistan’s southern desert were identified as missing Japanese tourists.
U.S.-led coalition troops raiding a Taliban hide-out in the Afghan mountains found the body of a Briton believed to be David Addison, Britain’s Foreign Office said Saturday.
British Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells said the body was found in the western province of Farah during a search and rescue operation by coalition forces.
Addison and his interpreter were working for a foreign firm refurbishing the road linking the southern city of Kandahar to Herat, a western city. They were abducted when militants attacked Addison’s convoy Wednesday, killing three police guards.
As for the Japanese victims, their bodies were found Thursday near a road leading from Kandahar to the Pakistani border. They had been missing since Aug. 8, when they crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Autopsies indicated the dead were Jun Fukusho, 44, and Shinobu Hasegawa, 30, teachers from Hiroshima in western Japan, believed killed as much as a month ago after being shot in the head point-blank, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said he thought it could be the work of criminals. Two Taliban commanders earlier said they had not killed the two.
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