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‘Kidnapped German will be released next week’

GUWAHATI: A German aid worker kidnapped in India is unharmed and will be released next week, the Indian tribal separatist group holding him said Sunday.

But they warned security forces against a rescue mission as it could “endanger his life.”

“We are investigating the credentials and integrity of the German national in our camp and the process might take another five to six days,” a spokesman of the outlawed Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) told local journalists in the northeastern state of Manipur.

KLA militants abducted Heinrich Wolfgang, a Bonn-based aid worker, on March 23 from Maphou village, 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of Manipur’s capital Imphal. He had been on his way to oversee a community development programme funded by a German non-government organization involved in relief and rehabilitation work for refugees displaced by violent ethnic conflict between tribal Nagas and Kukis in Manipur.

“There was discrimination against the tribal Kukis in the implementation of the German-backed development programme and so we have abducted him,” the spokesman said. “We would like to assure that no harm would come to the German national while in our custody.” But he warned security forces against launching a rescue mission. “Such a move by security forces might endanger his life,” he said. The rebel group also refuted reports that it had demanded 10 million rupees (200,000 dollars) as ransom for Wolfgang’s release.

There are more than 19 separatist groups in Manipur with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy and the right to self-determination. —AFP

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