Afghan Taliban hold eight Turks after helicopter lands

Taliban insurgents have seized eight Turks and an Afghan from a civilian helicopter which made an emergency landing in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Monday, BBC reports.

The incident happened when the Turkish helicopter landed on Sunday evening, said Rais Khan Sadeq, deputy police chief of Logar province, south of Kabul.

The district is known to be a Taliban-controlled area.

The helicopter seems to have been forced to make a hard landing in bad weather, and was soon surrounded by insurgents.The aircraft had been found without its occupants.

The Turks were civilians working on a construction project, local media reported.

The United Nations and the NATO-led coalition both denied that the helicopter was one of theirs.

Taliban sources were not immediately available for comment. Turkish embassy officials in Kabul said they were unaware of the incident.

Last month, one Turkish engineer was released by the Taliban after several months in captivity.

Turkey is part of the military coalition in Afghanistan, but its troops do not participate in combat operations.