Taliban deny hand in Turkish engineer's murder

ISLAMABAD, Dec 16 (AFP) - Taliban militants on Thursday denied any hand in the abduction and murder of a Turkish man in Afghanistan, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.
"Taliban have no hand in the killing and earlier abduction of the Turkish engineer in Kunar," the ousted Islamic militia's spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi told the private news agency, which is based in Pakistan.
"We don't need to engage in such activities as we can fight our enemies face to face," Hakimi said in a telephone call to AIP from an unknown location.
Armed men on Tuesday abducted Turkish engineer Eyup Orel along with a driver and interpreter in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, where he was working on a US-funded road project.
He was found dead on Wednesday after police closed in on the hostage-takers, officials said, while the driver and interpreter were freed. The kidnappers escaped.

12/16/2004 11:56 GMT - AFP