Several Taliban members released in exchange of abducted Indian engineers

• The Indians released were part of a group of seven engineers that were kidnapped more than a year ago.
• The deal was the outcome of talks between the Taliban and US peace envoy.

(Karachi) Eleven Taliban prisoners have been released from a prison in Afghanistan in exchange for three Indian engineers the militants had been holding, local media reported on Monday.

The militants were freed from Bagram prison and handed to the group’s leaders in the northern Baghlan province in their controlled areas, media reported a Taliban official as saying.

They include the Taliban’s former shadow governors for Kunar and Nimroz provinces Sheikh Abdul Rahim and Maulawi Rashid respectively and Aziz ur Rahman, the newphew of the Taliban deputy chief Sirajuddin Haqqani.

Seven Indian engineers working on a power plant were abducted from Baghlan Province in May 2018.