Two Bangladeshi development workers abducted in Afghanistan were released in the east-central province of Ghazni, officials said Sunday, dpa reported.
"The unidentified abductors left them in front of our Gazni office Saturday evening, 10 days after they were picked up," said Zia Hashan, communications manager of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, a Dhaka-based non-governmental organization.
Akhter Ali and Mohammad Shahjahan Ali, who have been working for the committee in Afghanistan for three years, were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on October 23 from their office at Moi Mubarak in Ghazni.
Committee officials in Dhaka said the two were in good health and were brought back to Kabul Sunday. They talked to their families by telephone immediately after they were released.
"We will bring them back home as early as possible," Hashan said.
Dhaka on Saturday had made a formal request to the United Nations for assistance in rescuing the two aid workers. Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, made the request at a meeting with visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The committee has been operating in Ghazni for three years, supporting education, health and livelihood projects through micro-credit programmes.
In September 2007, unnamed gunmen killed committee official Abdul Alim. Three days later, another executive from the aid group, Nurul Islam, was kidnapped, but released after 83 days.