The militant group claiming to have kidnapped three UN workers including an Irishwoman in Afghanistan has today threatened to behead their captives.
Reuters today reports Mullah Ishaq Manzoor, a spokesman for breakaway Taliban faction Jaish-e-Muslimeen (Army of Muslims) saying the three election monitors would be killed unless their home countries withdrew from Afghanistan.
"We will not only behead them but will chop them up as is being done in Iraq," Mullah Manzoor said.
It is not clear whether the spokesman was referring to military involvement in Afghanistan or administrative duties being carried out by people from many nations under the UN banner or as aid workers with charities.
But trooops from several countries under NATO and US command are in Afghanistan supporting local security forces.
Ms Annetta Flanigan from Richill, Co Armagh, who holds dual Irish and British nationality was among three UN workers kidnapped on Thursday.
Afghan authorities today said seven people are being questioned over Thursday's kidnappings when the three - Ms Flanigan, a Kosovar woman, and a Fillipino man - were snatched from their UN vehicle by armed men.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said three of the seven arrested were armed and wearing military uniforms though not part of any authorised military or police unit.
Interrogation of the suspects had so far established no definitive link to the kidnapping, spokesman Mr Latfullah Mashal said. He gave no further details about the suspects, but another government official said some were suspected criminals questioned in an effort to generate leads.
Afghan and Nato forces put up roadblocks around the city yesterday, while police and troops searched houses.
The American military said it was ready to help in any rescue operation. In New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the world body was hoping for an "immediate and unconditional release".
The kidnappings, which have been claimed by a group linked to the Taliban, came a week after a suicide attack killed an American woman and an Afghan teenager in the normally secure capital, and ahead of final results due in the historic October 9th presidential poll.