The Afghan government has agreed to hand over the body of a slain Taliban commander to his family in return for the release of five local health workers captured by the Islamist militants, an official said on Tuesday. The five were kidnapped in the southern province of Kandahar in March. Their captors originally demanded the release of Taliban prisoners as ransom and instead this week asked for the body of Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah who U.S.-led forces killed last month, the official said. "Yesterday it was agreed to," said Abdullah Fahim, a health ministry advisor. "It's their right to have the body of their relative," he added.
President Hamid Karzai told "relevant authorities" to exchange the body of Mullah Dadullah, the top Taliban commander killed last month in southern Afghanistan, for a doctor, three nurses and a driver kidnapped by militants in southern Afghanistan two months ago, said Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry.
| The health ministry spokesman said a person nominated by Dadullah's family was expected to arrive in Kandahar from Pakistan later on Tuesday to receive the body. |