Italian hostage killed in Afghanistan - kidnapper

KABUL (Reuters) - The Italian aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan has been killed, the alleged kidnapper told Reuters on Friday, but a government spokesman said she was still alive.

Timoor Shah said that he had killed Clementina Cantoni after President Hamid Karzai's government refused to accept his demands.

'We strangled her with a rope at nine o'clock last night,' Shah said.

Karzai's spokesman, Jawed Ludin, insisted that 32-year-old Cantoni was still alive. Cantoni, who works for Care International, was seized by gunmen in Kabul on Monday night.

We can only pray that Clementina is okay.

Semper Fi