Men affiliated with the Taliban have abducted over 150 people, mostly Indian citizens, from an area close to Hamid Karzai International Airport earlier this morning, Saturday, August 21, a reliable source confirmed to Kabul Now.
The source, who managed to escape along with his wife and some others, added that the abductees include some Afghan citizens and Afghan Sikhs as well but most of them are Indian citizens.
He added that they were all boarded on eight minivan vehicles around 01:00 AM, this morning, heading to the Kabul airport for evacuation but they couldn’t enter the airport for lack of cooperation.
According to the source, a group of “the Taliban who were not armed approached them and then took them all to Tarakhil, an eastern neighborhood in the capital Kabul, after beating them physically.”
The source added that he, his wife, and few others could manage to escape by throwing themselves down from windows of the minivans.
“The Taliban told the passengers that they would take them into the airport from a different gate but their whereabouts is not yet clear,” the source said.
A Taliban spokesman rejected the allegations regarding abduction of more than 150 people, mostly Indian citizens, near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
He told Kabul Now that the Taliban are present around the airport and do not let people to enter it.
The Taliban have transferred the abductees to the compound of Alkozay Group of Companies, which is located in an area close to the airport, and have collected their passports, a reliable source told Kabul Now.
The Taliban are now interrogating these people and assured them that they will be transferred back to the Kabul airport once the interrogation is over, the source detailed.
Two sources confirmed to Kabul Now that the Taliban have released all the abductees and they are now on their way back to the Kabul international airport.
