Taliban frees three Afghan hostages

KANDAHAR (AFP) - Taliban militants have freed three Afghans abducted with two French colleagues nearly two months ago, their aid group and a spokesman for the extremist movement said Sunday.

Their ongoing detention even after the release of the French nationals had raised fears the Afghans would be executed like some previous hostages.

But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said they were found "not guilty," and that there had been numerous demands for their release.

"Our court and leadership council decided to free them," he told AFP in a telephone call from an unknown location, adding that they had been released Saturday.

The French aid organisation Terre d'Enfance (A World For Our Children) and local police confirmed Sunday that the men were now free.

"Fifty-two days after their kidnapping, Rasul, Hashim and Azrat have today been freed," Antoine Vuillaume, the president of the organisation, told AFP.