Afghan Threat: We'll Finish Her

A man claiming to have kidnapped an Italian aid worker in the Afghan capital threatened on Wednesday in an interview on local television to kill her unless his demands were immediately met.

Also Wednesday, suspected Taliban militants ambushed and shot to death five Afghans working on a U.S.-funded project to help end opium farming in the south of the country, officials said.

The man, who called himself Temur Shah, has also had negotiations with aid group CARE International — the employer of hostage Clementina Cantoni — said CARE's Afghanistan director, Paul Barker.

"The guy, if he is who we think he is, has blood on his hand from previous incidents," Barker said. "It's very ugly, what kinds of threats he makes." He declined to elaborate.

Cantoni herself did not speak during the interview, and Shah did not give any proof that she was in his captivity.

On the private television station Afghan Tolo, Shah threatened to kill Cantoni, 32, if three demands were not agree to by Wednesday night.

"If our demands are not accepted ... we will show our reaction and finish her," he said.

He demanded that the government set up more Islamic boarding schools in Afghanistan, that authorities provide "alternative livelihoods" for farmers who are being forced to stop growing opium, and that independent radio station Arman stop broadcasting a program about young people's social issues. He did not say why he opposed the show.

Shah also said Cantoni's health was "very critical," adding that she had internal bleeding, was vomiting and had not eaten in three days. He said she hurt her head during her abduction, when four men dragged her from her car in Kabul on Monday night.

Barker said the demands made in the interview were different from others Shah had made previously. Those demands included more Islamic education in schools, the eradication of opium farming and a halt to the sale of alcohol, Barker said.

He said it wasn't clear whether Shah was sincere about the demands.

"There is reason for hope, but also reason for alarm. I tend to err on the hopeful side, but you just don't know," Barker said.

Cantoni has been in Afghanistan since 2002, and was working for CARE International on a project helping Afghan widows and their families.

Her kidnapping was the latest in a series of attacks targeting foreigners in Kabul, reinforcing fears that militants or criminals here are copying tactics used in Iraq.

The Afghan government did not immediately comment on Shah's demands, or say whether they thought he was the kidnapper.

Authorities have said they suspect Cantoni was kidnapped by the same criminal gang accused of abducting three U.N. workers last year.

Two of the gang's leaders, known as Tilagai and Omarakhan, were arrested separately last month. Security officials have repeatedly warned that supporters of the two leaders may kidnap foreigners to try forcing their release.

The three abducted U.N. officials — one each from the Philippines, Northern Ireland and Kosovo — were released after being held for nearly a month.

Cantoni's plight has caused anguish across Italy.

The Italian government said Tuesday that contact had been made with the kidnappers and that the hostage was unhurt.

In Kabul, about 100 widows who benefited from Cantoni's work held a tearful rally on Tuesday and Wednesday, clutching pictures of Cantoni and banners demanding her freedom.

The five Afghans shot to death Wednesday were attacked as they drove through Helmand province, about 110 miles northwest of the southern city of Kandahar, said senior provincial official Ghulam Muhiddin.

Two of the victims were engineers working for Chemonics, a U.S.-based company; one was a government engineer; the other two dead were the driver and a policeman employed as a security guard, he said. There were no survivors in the car.

"Police are investigating the killings and are searching for the Taliban attackers," Muhiddin said.

Carol Yee, a senior Chemonics International worker in the area, confirmed the killings. She said the men were working on a project to provide alternative livelihoods to farmers growing opium, the raw material for heroin.

Yee said there had been no threats made against Chemonics, a global consulting firm based in Washington that focuses on international development.

The United States and other countries are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into Afghanistan in a bid to crack down on the burgeoning drugs trade.

Afghanistan last year produced nearly 90 percent of the world's opium, sparking warnings it is fast becoming a dangerous "narco-state" less than four years after the end of its role as a haven for al Qaeda.

Efforts to eradicate opium crops and raid heroin laboratories this year have sometimes triggered a violent response from drug producers.

However, aid workers have been targeted many times before by Taliban-led militants in the south and east of the country, as part of a drive to undermine recovery under the U.S.-backed government that replaced the hardline militia.

Militants have stepped up attacks on military and civilian targets after a winter lull, further impeding aid to the impoverished region.

U.S. and Afghan troops have fought a string of bloody battles with insurgents since early April. About 150 militants have been reported killed in the period, along with 30 members of the Afghan security forces, three U.S. troops and a Romanian soldier.