A local TV broadcasts video of Afghan journalist, Ajmal Naqshbandi in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 8, 2007. A Taliban spokesman announced Sunday that militants beheaded Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi after government refused to release Taliban militants. (Xinhua Photo)

The Taliban said it killed the kidnapped Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi on Sunday afternoon, according to a spokesman for Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah.

Taliban fighters killed the journalist as the Afghan government did not meet the group's demand of the release of two Taliban prisoners, the self-claimed spokesman told Xinhua by satellite phone from an undisclosed place.

Naqshbandi's body was found in the volatile southern Helmand province, while it was not clear where he was killed.

Naqshbandi was abducted in Helmand together with an Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo and their driver on March 4.

Afghan and foreign journalists in this country have been urging Afghan authorities to do anything possible to get Naqshbandi freed, but apparently no effective measures have been carried out by the government.

The driver was beheaded, while Mastrogiacomo was released after five Taliban prisoners, including some important figures, were freed by Afghan authorities.

The Italian hostage deal has been severely criticized by some Western countries, notably the United States and Britain, and even by Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, who said it would provoke a kidnapping spree by the Taliban.

On March 27, the Taliban abducted a five-member Afghan medical team in the southern Kandahar province, and has insisted they would be released only after a number of Taliban prisoners are freed.

Editor: Yan