Five kidnapped Bangladeshis freed in Afghanistan

Five Bangladeshi construction workers kidnapped in Afghanistan last December were on Tuesday freed by their captors, Dhaka's foreign minister said. The Afghan government, with help from local village elders, negotiated the freedom of the workers seven months after they were abducted from their road-building camp near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
"They are in good health and will be flown back home in seven or eight days," Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said, adding that no ransom had been paid. One Bangladeshi engineer was killed and seven workers were taken hostage when gunmen stormed the remote construction camp run by a South Korean firm between the northern Afghan provinces of Balkh and Samangan.
Two of the workers were freed two days later. Moni said it was not clear who had abducted the Bangladeshi workers but said it "could be" the Taliban. Afghan police officials have blamed the Taliban for the incident but the insurgent group has denied involvement in the attack.