[NYTr] Afgh: Blast Kills 4,Wounds 14; Govt Denies Prisoner Exchange for German Hostage

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Afghanistan Blast Kills Four       

Kabul, Oct 12 (Prensa Latina) A blast killed at least four persons and
wounded 14 near a mosque in the southern convulsive province of
Helmand, Afghanistan, according to military sources in this capital.

The NATO spokesman Colonel Richard Eaton reported that there was an
explosion near a mosque in Gereshk bazaar, a city at the south of the
Helmand province shaken by violence.

Eaton explained to the media in Kabul that "according to the first
reports, four persons died and we think they were policemen."

He added that four other policemen were apparently wounded as well as
10 civilians."

Meanwhile, the Afghan government denied handing over several rebels in
return for the recent liberation of German engineer Rudolf
Blechschmidt, kidnapped by rebels three months ago.

"We have not released any combatant or terrorist and we do not pay
ransom", assured the spokesman of President Hamid Karzai Humayun
Hamidzada.

Since a few month ago Afghanistan has experienced an increase of
kidnaps, some of them made by rebels and other by criminal groups.

ef abo mne mf