July 20 (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents have kidnapped 23 Korean Christians from a bus in Afghanistan, officials said on Friday, the biggest group of foreigners seized so far in the militant campaign to oust the government and its Western backers.
Following are details of reported kidnappings of foreigners in Afghanistan.
Nov. 2003 - Turkish engineer Hassan Onal is released by Taliban kidnappers after a month in captivity. Onal was seized from a U.S.-funded highway project on Oct. 30.
Dec. 2003 - Two Indians, kidnapped while working on a U.S.-funded road project, are released unharmed.
March 2004 - One Turk is shot and a second kidnapped in an attack in southern Afghanistan. They had been working on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. The kidnapped Turk was later released.
Nov. 2004 - U.N. workers Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Shqipe Hebibi from Kosovo and Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan are freed almost four weeks after they were abducted at gunpoint in Kabul. A Taliban splinter faction, Jaish-e Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), said it held them.
Dec. 2004 - A Turkish engineer working on a road-building project between Jalalabad and Kunar is kidnapped. The Interior Ministry later said the body of a kidnapped Turkish construction engineer had been found in eastern Afghanistan.
May 2005 - Clementina Cantoni, an Italian working for the CARE International aid agency, was seized by gunmen in Kabul. She was released unharmed after more than three weeks.
Aug. 2005 - David Addison, a British engineer, was kidnapped when gunmen attacked a convoy in the western province of Farah and killed three police escorts. Addison's body was found on Sept. 3. Taliban rebels said they killed him.
November 2005 - Taliban guerrillas kidnap P.M. Kutty, an engineer with India's state-run Border Road Organisation, in the Khash Rod district of Nimroz province. He was killed on Nov. 22.
March 2006 - Taliban insurgents say they killed four hostages and dumped their bodies in the Kandahar-Helmand area in southern Afghanistan. The four were abducted on March 11. An official at the Ecolog services company in Kabul said four of its workers, ethnic Albanians from Macedonia, were missing.
April 2006 - An Indian engineer, identified as K. Suryanarayan, was found beheaded on April 30 not far from where he was kidnapped near the main road between Qalat, and Ghazni to the north. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
Oct. 2006 - Gabriele Torsello, a London-based photojournalist who is a Muslim, was kidnapped on Oct. 12 by gunmen after he left by bus from Lashkar-Gah, capital of Helmand province in the south. He was released unharmed on Nov. 3.
March 2007 - The Taliban captured Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo of La Repubblica and two Afghans in Helmand province. He is handed over to the Italian embassy on March 19. His Afghan driver was beheaded. His translator was executed on April 8.
April 2007 - The Taliban say they have kidnapped Eric Damfreville, a Frenchman, working for Terre d'Enfance, along with their local driver and two other Afghans in Nimroz province. He is released on May 11. A French woman hostage who also worked for the Terre d'Enfance aid organisation was released in late April by the Taliban after three weeks in captivity.
July 2007 - Two Germans, travelling in a car in Wardak province, southwest of the capital, Kabul, are kidnapped. The identity of the group and who kidnapped them was not clear.
- Taliban insurgents stop a bus in Afghanistan and kidnap 23 Korean citizens.