HEART: Suspected Taliban militants freed on Saturday 30 Afghan labourers remaining from a group of around 150 kidnapped in western Afghanistan almost a week ago, a deputy provincial governor said.

A first batch of 118 of the men, kidnapped on Sunday last week as they were travelling in three buses, was released on Friday.

“The remaining 30 hostages were freed today. They were freed with the help of the tribal elders and no ransom was paid,” Farah deputy provincial governor Mohammad Younis Rasouli said.

“They were mostly locals and all have returned to their homes,” he said.

The group were carpenters, masons and other labourers employed by a US construction company and working on a project for the Afghan National Army.

Authorities have accused the Taliban extremist militia of the kidnapping, the largest in the post-Taliban conflict which has also seen the emergence of criminal gangs who kidnap for ransom.—AFP