Afghanistan: Three Indian engineers released by Taliban

Three Indian engineers including some high-ranking members of the militant group, were released by the Taliban in the exchange of 11 of its members.

Tolo News said that the prisoner exchange took place at an unknown location on Sunday quoting Sayed Mohamed Akbar Agha, an ex-Taliban Commander.

In Baghlan, northern Afghanistan, the engineers held hostage for more than one year.

It's only a few days after US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met Mullah Abdul Gh Baradar, Taliban's top negotiator, co-founder of the Taliban hardline movement and leader of an Taliban delegation visited Islamabad last week.

The Taliban said they were in Islamabad to discuss the condition of roughly 1.5 million Afghan refugees living in the city.

Last year in May, the Indian embassy in Kabul had confirmed that seven Indian engineers, all working for the Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) that operates power generating stations, were kidnapped in Baghlan.

No group has claimed responsibility for their abduction.

One of the hostages was released in March, but the fate of the others remains unknown.

The freed Taliban leaders include Sheikh Abdur Rahim and Mawlawi Abdur Rashid, who had served as the insurgent group's governors of Kunar and Nimroz provinces respectively.

( With inputs from ANI )