kidnappers killed

AFGHAN security personnel attacked a band of kidnappers in the northern Balkh province to try to rescue the two people they held, killing seven people including the five kidnappers, provincial official Mawlavi Zabiullah Nurani said yesterday.

According to the official, the kidnappers captured two people possibly for ransom in Dasht-e-Shur area outside Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital.

Plane crash kills 4

AT least four people were killed and five others injured as an L-410 aircraft made a hard landing in Russia’s Irkutsk Region on Sunday.

Two crew members and 14 passengers were on board when the incident happened, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Rescuers are working at the site and a local hospital is ready to receive the injured.

First intl. flight

A PAKISTAN International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane from Islamabad touched down in Kabul yesterday morning, according to an airline spokesman.

This marks the first flight to land in Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan since the chaotic final withdrawal of U.S. troops last month.

PIA spokesman Abdullah Khan said in a statement that the service was a “special flight” to create “goodwill” with the people of Afghanistan and to “strengthen humanitarian efforts.”