A kidnapped Japanese aid worker in Afghanistan has been killed, reports BBC online Thursday.
Police in the eastern province of Nangahar say they have recovered the body of Kazuya Ito, (31), an engineer, who was kidnapped on Tuesday while inspecting an irrigation project.
The Afghan army and police launched a rescue mission but say they were able only to free two Afghan colleagues working with the Japanese man. Mr Ito had been working for a Japanese aid agency, Peshawar-kai. He had been shot several times.
He is the third Japanese citizen to be kidnapped and killed in Afghanistan in the last three years. Two other Japanese abductees have also been killed in Iraq.
The latest killing comes as aid agencies say they are finding it too dangerous to work in many parts of Afghanistan. Taleban gunmen shot dead three female international aid workers in Logar province earlier this month.
