Beijing, April 27: Two Chinese nationals kidnapped three months ago by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been freed and are in good health, the government in Beijing said on Tuesday.
The pair were kidnapped on January 16 as they were working on a road project in Afghanistan’s northern province of Faryab. The Taliban had claimed responsibility for their abduction.
“The Chinese workers kidnapped in Afghanistan in January of this year were safely rescued and are in good physical condition,” the foreign ministry said in a statement faxed to AFP.
“We express our gratitude for their safe rescue, and our thanks to all relevant sides who worked toward this,” it said, giving no details on the circumstances or timing of their release.
Chinese state media quoted a diplomat in Afghanistan as saying they had been freed at the weekend.
Beijing had earlier said it was “making every effort” to rescue the duo, identified as engineer Zhang Fengqiang and worker Wu Yulin.
They were seized along with their two Afghan drivers and two guards, who were freed in late January after negotiations with tribal elders.
Criminal gangs and Taliban insurgents have kidnapped several dozen foreigners, many of them journalists, in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led operation to topple the Taliban.
—Agencies