The Taliban have kidnapped 70 Afghans over the past four days in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan and killed seven of them, Efe news reported on Sunday, quoting a source.
"All those kidnapped are residents of Shah Wali Khost district, seven of them were killed on Saturday by the insurgents," provincial governor's spokesperson Samim Khapalwak told Efe.
The spokesperson said that the Taliban held 33 hostages after freeing several persons.
The kidnappings occurred after the insurgents and the Afghan troops clashed on a road connecting Uruzgan and Kandahar, in which the Taliban suffered "many casualties".
Khapalwak, who did not provide a specific number of casualties suffered by the Taliban or the Afghan forces, said a rescue operation to free the hostages is underway.
Last week, insurgents killed seven people and kidnapped six others along a highway in Farah province in the western part of the country.
It remained unclear why the villagers were seized. But some officials said they suspected the Taliban had kidnapped or killed them for suspected cooperation with the Western- backed government which the militants are striving to topple.
The insurgents have a heavy presence in Uruzgan, a poppy-growing area.
Today they denied involvement, while confirming they had attacked police checkpoints in the area.
"Our mujahideen killed a number of local police and pro- government militias there, also capturing 17 suspects who were later released after interrogation. We have not killed or kidnapped any civilians," the Taliban said in a statement.
Civilians are increasingly caught in the crosshairs of Afghanistan's worsening conflict as the Taliban step up their annual spring offensive launched in April.
Highways passing through insurgency-prone areas have become exceedingly dangerous, with the Taliban and other armed groups frequently kidnapping or killing travellers.
In July Taliban fighters closed a highway connecting Farah to Herat city in the west, stopping a bus and forcing 16 passengers off it.
They shot at least seven of them while the remainder were taken hostage.
Elsewhere in the country, the Taliban today captured a district in the northern province of Faryab after an overnight attack that triggered hours of heavy fighting, said provincial police spokesman Abdul Karim Yourish.