Roundup: Afghan MP urges rescue of 30 abductees in southern province

An Afghan lawmaker on Sunday lashed out at the government for its failure to rescue 30 passengers abducted by armed militants in the southern Zabul province days ago.

"All the kidnapped persons are ethnic Hazaras and have been kept as hostages in Deh Chopan district of Zabul province," Arif Rahmani, who is a member of Wolesi Jirga or lower house of the parliament, told local media.

Foreign militants backed by Taliban insurgents were behind the abduction of the 30 civilians, the lawmaker said, adding the government has to inform the people especially families of the abductees what steps it has taken to release them.

Unidentified gunmen stopped two buses in Shahjoi district on Monday and took 30 ethnic Hazaras men from the commuters to unknown locations. The Interior Ministry has instructed police in the province to locate and rescue the kidnapped people.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said all the efforts to ensure the safe release of the abductees in Shahjoi have been continuing.

Meanwhile, locals in Zabul province blamed the Islamic State, also known as Daesh which controls parts of Iraq and Syria, for the abduction of the Hazaras who were traveling from Iran to their homes in the central Ghazni province.

Head of Zabul provincial council, Ata Jan Haqparast, said the kidnapped passengers were in the custody of the armed militants affiliated to the so-called IS.

According to local media reports, a delegation of elders and religious scholars has visited the camp of IS-lined militants in Khak-e-Afghan district to seek the release of the abductees but the abductors refused to talk with the mediators.

However, Zabul provincial governor Mohammad Ashraf Nasiri accused the Pakistan-based extremist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhanagavi and Chechen militants linked to the IS of kidnapping the 30 passengers.

Zabul police chief Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Liwanai has vowed to spare no efforts to rescue the Hazaras. Endi