Amar Zwak, the Spokesman for Helmand Province’s Governor, said that the Taliban freed 23 hostages in the province late on Tuesday.
He said on Wednesday in Kabul that most of the hostages were set free, as a result of interventions by the governor’s palace and tribal elders with the Taliban.
Zwak expressed the hope that very soon the remaining two hostages would be set free as well.
He said earlier on Tuesday the militants took the 25 people captive when they stopped a bus and three other vehicles on the highway from Kandahar to Herat in Helmand province.
Zwak said that the militants after claiming responsibility for the abduction said that they would hand over “individuals with ties to Kabul’s puppet government” to the Taliban’s court.
He noted that the Taliban have increasingly taken travellers hostage in recent months as a way to intimidate the government, security forces and employees of international organisations.