E-Paper
Remains of Pole slain by Taliban repatriated
The remains of a Polish geologist decapitated in February after five months in Taliban captivity was repatriated today, in an airport ceremony carried live on television.
The remains of a Polish geologist decapitated in February after five months in Taliban captivity was repatriated today, in an airport ceremony carried live on television.
Piotr Stanczak, 42, was kidnapped - and his driver and bodyguard killed - last September in northwestern Pakistan, where he was working for a Polish oil and natural gas exploration outfit.
His decapitation on February 7 - which was filmed by his captors - provoked a furious reaction from Warsaw, which slammed Islamabad's "apathy" over tackling terrorism.
TVN24 television showed Stanczak's remains being taken off a Pakistani military transport aircraft at Warsaw airport, where Pakistani junior foreign minister Khan Nawabzada Malik Amadpar expressed his nation's condolences.
Poland has offered a USD 290,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Stanczak's executioners.
Last week President Lech Kaczynski approved the deployment of an extra 400 Polish troops to Afghanistan - boosting the number of Poles with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force there to 2,000.