KABUL, 23 November 2004 — US-led troops searching for three UN hostages blasted their way into compounds in Kabul yesterday and detained 12 people while militants claiming to hold the UN workers warned the government against any tricks.
Among those detained in the predawn raids in the west of the Afghan capital was a doctor named Muneer Ahmad Musamim, whose wife said worked for the United Nations, and his 17-year-old son.
The wife, Zakia Musamim, said 10 neighbors were detained in the raids by US and Afghan forces at about 3.30 a.m. on Sunday. She said they blew down a wall with rockets and fired small arms, but there were no casualties.
Lt.-Gen. David Barno, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, confirmed US forces took part in an operation in connection with the hostages, but declined to give details.
There was no indication the raids had helped efforts to free Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Kosovan Shqipe Hebibi and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan, who were abducted in Kabul on Oct. 28 after helping run a presidential election won by US-backed incumbent Karzai.
Zakia said her family and neighbors knew nothing about the hostages except what they heard from the news. “My husband is a doctor who has worked for the UN for three years. The others are just poor people working in the city,” she said. A UN spokesman confirmed that a doctor employed by the United Nations had been taken in for questioning, but said he had no other details.
A few hours after the raid, Mullah Sabir Momin, a commander of the Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims) Taleban splinter faction, said the government would be responsible for the fate of the hostages if it tried to deceive the kidnappers.
“The government is just trying to keep us busy with negotiations while at the same time searching for the hostages,” he said.
“If they try to be clever during the negotiations, they will be responsible for any loss to the hostages.”
There has been confusion over who is holding the hostages since the government said last week it did not believe they were with the Jaish-e Muslimeen, which is demanding the freeing of 26 Taleban prisoners in return for their release.
The government has said it believed the hostages were still in the capital or the surrounding area, but the militants, who have threatened to kill the captives if their demands are not met, insist they are in their hands.
Afghan officials declined to give details of the morning operation but Barno said security forces were cooperating in the hunt for the hostages.
