Four employees with the International Committee of the Red Cross, kidnapped earlier this week in Afghanistan, were freed in good health Saturday, officials said, accordignt o AP. The four men _ one from Myanmar, one from Macedonia and two from Afghanistan _ were taken captive on Wednesday in central Wardak province while working to secure the release of a German hostage. Mohabullah, the police director of criminal investigations of the Sayad Abad district where the four were taken, said the men had been released and were in good health. Mohabullah, who goes by one name, said he had no news about the German. «The unconditional release of our four colleagues is a great relief to us and their families,» said Franz Rauchenstein, deputy head of the ICRC delegation in Kabul. The number of kidnappings in Afghanistan has spiked in recent months after the Taliban secured the release of five insurgent prisoners in exchange for a captive Italian journalist in March _ a heavily criticized swap that many feared would encourage abductions. The Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans in July, a hostage crisis that scored the militants face-to-face talks with South Korean government delegates. Two of the Koreans were killed; 21 were eventually released. Rudolf Blechschmidt, a German engineer, was abducted on July 18, one day before the South Koreans were captured. It is believed that he was initially taken by criminals in Wardak, then later handed over to the Taliban. Blechschmidt is one of two German engineers and five Afghans who were snatched together. The other German was found shot dead on July 21, while one of the Afghans managed to escape.
