3 medical workers detained in southern Afghanistan freed after a week in custody

3 Italian aid workers freed in Afghanistan

KABUL — Afghan authorities released three Italian medical workers Sunday who had been detained in southern Afghanistan for a week on suspicion of collaborating with insurgents, Italian and Afghan officials said.

The three employees of Italian non-governmental organization Emergency hadn’t been heard from since being taken into custody April 10 after explosives and handguns were found in a raid by Afghan police and British troops on an Emergency hospital in southern Helmand province.

Officials in Helmand have alleged to the media the three were bribed by insurgents to smuggle weapons into the hospital in preparation for an assassination attempt on the provincial governor. Emergency strongly denied the accusation.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the release came about “without putting into question” Italy’s relations with the Afghan government or NATO.

The Afghan intelligence service confirmed the release of the Italians and five Afghan workers for Emergency, and said a sixth Afghan employee continued to be held.

“This plan was made by the enemies of peace and stability from outside Afghanistan’s borders, who pressured one of the Afghan employees of Emergency,” the intelligence service said in a statement. The eight people released were found to have no involvement in the plot, it added. It was not clear if any charges were ever brought against them.

The Italians were handed over to the Italian Embassy in Kabul on Sunday, the intelligence service said.

The three Italians — Matteo Dell’Aira, Marco Garatti, and Matteo Pagani — have worked with Emergency since 2000. After the arrests, Emergency, which operates three hospitals and 28 clinics around Afghanistan, temporarily withdrew all staff from the hospital in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah as a safety precaution.

There have been earlier reports of tensions between Emergency and the provincial government because of the group’s policy of treating all patients regardless of political affiliation or ethnic background, including suspected members of the Taliban insurgency.