German hostage was shot to death in Afghanistan 02/08/2007 00:00

2 August 2007

BERLIN (AP) _ An autopsy shows that a German citizen found dead after being kidnapped in Afghanistan was killed by gunshot wounds inflicted after he collapsed, the German Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Ruediger Diedrich, 43, was found dead July 21 and flown back for autopsy to Germany.

Foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said the results of the autopsy, which were released by the German Institute of Forensic Medicine in Cologne on Thursday, confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death.

''Due to the extremely difficult circumstances suffered during the kidnapping, he initially collapsed. This however was not enough to lead to the death of the hostage,'' Jaeger said. ''Following this collapse, the victim was shot twice while still alive. Only after his ensuing death, four more shots were fired into the body of the victim.''

Diedrich was one of two German engineers who were taken hostage in Afghanistan in July. The second one, who German media have identified only as Rudolf B., remains in custody and efforts to release him are continuing.

AP

Subject: German news