Dhaka minister silent on hostage rescue

Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad said the three European hostages freed early Saturday were receiving medical attention, parrying questions about the military operation behind their rescue.On whether negotiations were enough or military force was needed to free the three Europeans, Azad said: "We used all necessary means to free them. Of course the release was made through negotiations. Our officers (military) were also there."On whether troops opened fire or any gun fight took place during the rescue operation, he said: "I don't have any information on a gun fight." To another question he said the abductors were given amnesty, but would not disclose their identity.

The three hostages were held for a month in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Torben Mikkelsen, 48, and Nils Hulgaard, 64, from Denmark, and Tim Selby, 28, from Britain were abducted on February 16 from a remote road in CHT.Sources said the kidnappers might have slipped through a passage created for their escape. The engineers, working for a company called Kampsax, were surveying the area for the construction of a Denmark-funded highway. No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, but authorities suspect that dissident members of the Chakma tribe were behind it.