Over 150, mostly Indians, abducted by insurgents near Kabul Airport; Taliban denies report
Reports claim that the abducted people have been taken to an unknown place and their phones have also been confiscated.
FollowNearly 150 people, mostly Indian nationals, who were waiting for their evacuation from the war-torn country, have been abducted from an area close to Hamid Karzai International Airport earlier this morning on Saturday, according to a local media report.
Meanwhile, the External Affairs Ministry has not given out any official statement over the matter yet and is trying to confirm the development.
Reports claim that the abducted people have been taken to an unknown place and their phones have also been confiscated.
According to Rishikesh Kumar of Sputnik, those abducted included a number of Afghan Sikhs and citizens but most were ordinary Indians. The people, including women and children, had reached the airport at 1 am but could not enter.
Kumar reported that soon after, Talibs came and thrashed some of them and took them all to Tarkhil, Kabul. Some managed to escape from the moving car, reported Kumar. According to those who had escaped, the Talibs told them that they were being taken inside the airport through another gate but it is not clear if they were indeed taken in or transferred to another location.
However, Ahmadullah Waseq, one of the Taliban spokesperson, has rejected the abduction allegation of around 150 Indian citizens from Kabul.
This development comes hours after the Indian Air Force (IAF) managed to evacuate more than 85 Indian nationals from Kabul in its C-130J transport aircraft.
Many Afghan journalists claimed that around 100-150 Indians were captured by the Taliban from outside the Kabul airport. However, this yet to be officially confirmed yet from the Indian government or US/NATO forces on the ground. The Indian government is monitoring the situation closely.
Though India has evacuated all embassy staff, an estimated 1,000 citizens still remain in several cities in the war-torn country, as ascertaining their location and condition is proving to an uphill task, a Home Ministry official had said, since not all of them registered themselves with the embassy.
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