The deminers were released Friday after local elders helped in negotiations with the kidnappers, Gen. Aminullah Amerkhail said. Two of them had been beaten, he said.

The seven were the last to be released of a team of 16 Afghans seized Wednesday near the Pakistan border. The others were freed several hours after the attack near the Torkham border crossing in Nangarhar province.

Also Saturday, NATO said a service member died of a non-combat injury in eastern Afghanistan. The military coalition did not provide further details.

Although NATO forces have poured troops into the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand and have been making progress in rolling back the Taliban, fighting has continued in the eastern provinces. The area bordering the Pakistani region of North Waziristan has been the target of numerous drone strikes against the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the forces of the Haqqani network, a Taliban faction affiliated with al-Qaida.

Separately in the east, NATO said it was reviewing the death of an Afghan civilian Saturday in the Dih Yak district of Ghazni province.

The death occurred during an airstrike targeting two armed insurgents on a motorcycle. Coalition forces provided medical treatment to the wounded civilian, who later died. The coalition met with elders in the area and extended its condolences.