3 Kidnapped Men Rescued Near Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan —  Two Turkish engineers and an Afghan interpreter kidnapped in December were freed Friday in a shootout between Afghan forces and the captors.

Two of the kidnappers were killed and two Afghan soldiers were wounded in the rescue operation in a village 40 miles south of Kabul, the capital.

The former hostages appeared alongside Interior Minister Ali Jalali at a news conference in Kabul. The Turks, both wearing thick beards, appeared tired and drawn.

“It was a successful and quick operation,” Jalali said. He declined to identify the kidnappers, referring to them only as “terrorists.”

Officials previously said the Turks, who were digging wells, were abducted by a former militia commander called Afzal Khan in a dispute over land.

Foreign engineers, an important labor source for a country rebuilding after years of war, have increasingly come under attack in Afghanistan.

On March 5, one Turkish engineer was killed and another kidnapped as they worked on a highway about 170 miles southwest of Kabul. An Afghan soldier guarding the men also was killed.

Officials blamed that attack on members of the ousted Taliban militia.