PTI
 
Kandahar, Apr 29: A purported Taliban spokesman has issued threat to kill an Indian hostage within 24 hours if all Indians don’t leave Afghanistan.

 
Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, who releases regular statements on behalf of outlawed Taliban fighters, on Saturday accused the Indian contractor, who was abducted on Friday in the southern Zabul province, of being an "American spy."

"We warn all Indians working here to leave Afghanistan within 24 hours starting 6 p.m. (2200 hours IST) today. Otherwise we will kill him," Ahmadi said after contacting The Associated Press over telephone.

India’s ambassador to Kabul Rakesh Sood said the threat was "not a very positive development."

Sood identified the hostage as K. Surya Narayana, a father of three from Hyderabad, aged in his early 40s, who had been employed in Kandahar since January last by a Bahrain-based company, al-Moayed.

The firm has been contracted by an Afghan mobile phone company, Roshan, to expand its mobile phone network across volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan.

Sood said that he was in contact with officials from Roshan, the Afghan government and the US military to secure the captive’s release.

Engineer’s family appeals to abductors to release him
 
PTI
 
Hyderabad: Shocked family members of Indian engineer, A Suryanarayana, who was abducted by Taliban in Afghanistan, on Saturday appealed to the abductors to release him without any harm.
  
Disturbed over the news of kidnapping of his son in Afghanistan, Chandrashekar urged the Centre to take immediate steps for his safe release.

Suryanarayana, a father of three children, had gone to Afghanistan four months before for job, his wife Manjula told reporters at her residence at Malkajgiri area in Secunderabad.

Before going to Afghanistan, he worked in Tata Tele Services in Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, an official from the Regional Passport Office, Bala Bhaskar, visited Suryanarayana’s house and informed his family members about the efforts being made to secure his safe release.