Taliban Say Kidnapped Pole Killed; Fate Unclear

Gunmen shot dead his Pakistani driver, bodyguard and translator before taking him hostage.

The fate of a Polish engineer kidnapped in Pakistan was unclear after a Taliban spokesman said that he had been killed on Saturday, but the body wouldn't be handed over until captured fighters were released.

Dawn News television channel reported the Taliban spokesman's claim that Piotr Stancza was killed because the authorities had failed to free the militants before a deadline that expired at midnight on Friday, but there was no confirmation from Pakistani officials.

The same Taliban spokesman, identified only as Mohammed, told Reuters that Stancza was dead, but went on to say that the body would only be handed over once the Taliban's demands were met, raising a question of whether it was negotiating tactic.

"We have killed the man after authorities refused to release our colleagues," the purported Taliban spokesman told Reuters. "We will now hand over his body only after our demands are met."

Officials were unable to verify the Taliban claim, and the two principal hostage negotiators handling Stancza's case could not be reached immediately for comment.

Stancza was kidnapped on Sept. 28 while visiting one of his company's sites near Attock city, about 65 km (40 miles) west of the capital, Islamabad.

Gunmen shot dead his Pakistani driver, bodyguard and translator before taking him hostage.

Militants had demanded that 60 of their comrades should be freed, but later cut their demand to four of their top men and negotiations have intensified over the past 10 days.

Attacks on foreign aid workers, company employees and diplomats have increased in Pakistan over the past year, especially in areas near the border with Afghanistan, where Taliban and al Qaeda militants are battling government forces.

An American heading the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office in southwestern province of Baluchistan, was abducted last week and his driver was shot dead.

Two Chinese telecommunication engineers, two Afghan diplomats and an Iranian diplomat were kidnapped in northwest Pakistan, though one of the Chinese later escaped.