Taliban claims to have kidnapped Indian engineer

An Indian engineer has been allegedly kidnapped by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan.

The Indian engineer, who was working at a local power project, was abducted on Thursday from Puli Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, a local Taliban commander claimed on Friday, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He claimed that the engineer, whom he did not name, has been brought to the central Ghazni province, where 23 South
Koreans were abducted on July 19.

However, the police chief in Baghlan and officials in Ghazni said they did not hear of the alleged abduction, the report said.

Taliban militants have been frequently carrying out kidnappings in Afghanistan for the past two years, and some hostages were also killed by them, including two South Koreans who were murdered recently.