Quetta - The Taliban has kidnapped and threatened to kill a Canadian journalist in the border town of Spin Boldak, a colleague said yesterday.
Freelance journalist Ken Hetchman is being kept in a small cell, bound hand and foot, Jonathan Steele of the Guardian newspaper said.
A Pashtun man handed Steele one of Hetchman's business cards yesterday with an appeal for help.
The Pashtun man told Steele that the Taliban had warned "that when we surrender, if we do not get money, maybe we will kill you because these are the people we do not like".
The kidnap comes amid reports of widespread looting of aid in Spin Boldak and conflicting claims as to whether the town was still under the control of the Taliban. One witness told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that Spin Boldak was no longer controlled by the Taliban.