Moldova Says Nationals Seized by Taliban, Calls on U.S. for Help

The government in Moldova said on Wednesday that two of its nationals were among those captured by the Taliban after their helicopter crash-landed in northern Afghanistan and appealed to the United States for help.

"According to information that the Moldovan government has now, there were 21 people on board including three crew members -- two pilots and an engineer, all of them Moldovan nationals," acting prime minister Gheorghe Brega told reporters after an emergency meeting.

He added that preliminary information indicated that three of the people including a Moldovan national on board the helicopter had died.  

Brega said his western-leaning country had appealed to Romania and the United States for help.

He said the M-17 helicopter, which belonged to Valan ICC company in Moldova, was taking part in a United Nations mission in Afghanistan.

The aircraft had been chartered by the Afghan army.

Moldova does not have a diplomatic mission in the war-torn country and its foreign ministry requested assistance from the United Nations.

The Afghan army launched a rescue operation on Wednesday to retrieve the 18 people taken hostage by the Taliban.

The Taliban killed three of those on board and took the rest hostage after the crash Tuesday afternoon in the Pashtun Kot district of Faryab province, an area partly controlled by the militants, the defense ministry in Afghanistan said.

Late Tuesday the insurgents fought off an initial attempt made by the Afghan army to save the surviving hostages, defense officials said, adding that a fresh rescue bid was launched Wednesday but giving no immediate details.