
Kabul - A Japanese aid worker, who was kidnapped Tuesday in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, was still alive and his driver was released by the abductors, said an aid official.
'I can confirm that the driver was released and he told us that our Japanese colleague is still alive, but in hands of his captors,' Noor Zaman, deputy director for Peshawar-Kai, a Japanese aid group, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
'This morning four armed men, who were hiding among the cornfield, arrested the Japanese worker as he was getting off from his vehicle in Khewa district to supervise a project,' Zaman said, citing the released driver.
Earlier Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, had reportedly claimed responsibility for the abduction and said that the Japanese hostage was killed during a clash between their fighters and Afghan security forces.
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