An Afghan contractor, who worked on road construction projects for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), was found murdered three days after being kidnapped by insurgents in Kapisa Province, some 80 km north from capital city of Kabul, said an ISAF statement released in Kabu Thursday.

"The local-national contractor was kidnapped on January 6. During his captivity, he was shot three times and killed. Afghan police found the contractor's body hanging from a tree near Feroza district on January 9," the statement said. "The contractor was part of a road construction project in the Afghanya valley of Kapisa."

ISAF Spokesperson, Brigadier General Richard Blanchette, condemned the kidnapping and murder of the local contractor and said "this local national man was merely trying to do his job and help build his country and, in doing so, was mercilessly killed by insurgents."

No group or individuals have yet to claim responsibility for the incident but Taliban militants often targeted those working for Afghan government and international troops.

Conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have left more than 5, 000 people dead with some 2,000 civilians and 294 foreign troops in 2008, despite some 70,000-strong international troops stationed in militancy-plagued Afghanistan.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2009)