MOSCOW, February 9 (RIA Novosti) - A video showing
the execution of a Polish contractor by Pakistani militants
appears to be genuine, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw
Sikorsky said at a news conference on Monday.
The Taliban movement released on Sunday a seven-minute
video showing Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak being beheaded by
three Taliban militants. One of the militants blames his death
on Pakistani authorities for refusing to release Taliban
prisoners.
"Regrettably, I have to admit that the recording of the
brutal murder... appears to be genuine and confirms our worst
fears," he was quoted as saying by Poland's TVN24 TV channel
said.
An employee of Poland's Geofizyka Krakow, Stanczak was
kidnapped on September 28 last year. He was executed after the
Pakistani and Polish governments refused to comply with
Taliban's demands by the deadline of February 6.
According to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, the Polish hostage
appealed to the Polish government not to send troops to
Afghanistan and to sever diplomatic ties with Pakistan if it
did not try to seek his release.
Following the execution, a Taliban militant said other
kidnapped foreign nationals would also be beheaded if the
Pakistani government refuses to free 60 detained militants.
Dawn also quoted a Taliban representative as saying in a
phone conversation that they would exchange the Pole's body for
"our men in the government's custody."
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