Indian Killed by Afghan Abductors

A kidnapped Indian telecommunications worker has been found beheaded in southern Afghanistan, police said early today.

The man and his Afghan driver had been kidnapped Friday, apparently by Taliban rebels.

“We found the body, beheaded, in a ditch by a road, about 10 km [6 miles] from where he was kidnapped,” said Mohammed Mir, a district police chief in the province of Zabol.

The man was identified by the Indian government as K. Suryanarayan, 41. Mir said there was no word on the fate of the Afghan driver.

In other violence, Afghan troops backed by U.S.-led coalition forces killed 11 Taliban fighters in volatile southern Afghanistan after militants killed three policemen.

Nine militants were killed during fighting that raged late Friday and into Saturday in Panjwai, a district in Kandahar province, Gov. Asadullah Khalid said. Twelve insurgents were captured.

Khalid said seven Taliban members were wounded and carried away by fleeing comrades.

In another incident Saturday, about 50 Afghan soldiers and police attacked a Taliban camp hidden in the mountains about 60 miles north of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, army commander Gen. Rahmatalluh Roufi said.

After a one-hour battle, Afghan forces ventured into caves used by the Taliban, finding machine guns and the bodies of two militants, Roufi said.

The remaining militants fled deeper into the mountains, he said.