Afghan Taliban say they killed Indian hostage

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Wednesday (Reuters) Taliban guerrillas have killed an Indian road engineer after his company failed to meet an ultimatum to cease operations in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the militants said on Tuesday.

P.M. Kutty was shot dead on the orders of the Taliban's council at 6:00 p.m. (1230 GMT), after a deadline passed for his company to pull out of Afghanistan, Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters. "Since the Indian company did not listen or reply to our response, we killed the Indian engineer," Yousuf said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

Kutty, an engineer with state-run Border Roads Organisation, was abducted from his car in the southern province of Nimrozon Saturday along with his local driver and two guards. The Taliban spokesman said details would be given later on where to find the body.

He said the driver has been freed, but the Taliban council had still to decide on the fate of the two guards.

An Indian embassy official in Kabul said he had no information about the report.

In New Delhi, the foreign ministry said in a statement: "We are in constant touch with Afghan authorities who have stated that they have no such confirmation and that their efforts to seek the safe release of the hostage are still continuing."