Poland vows justice in Taliban beheading

WARSAW, Poland, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Polish officials Monday pledged to track down and punish Taliban militants who beheaded a Polish engineer in Pakistan's border provinces with Afghanistan.

Piotr Stanczak was kidnapped four months ago while working in the Attock district near the North-West Frontier province, considered a Taliban haven, The Times of London reported.

In a video of the execution released Sunday, Taliban militants said in a statement that other foreign nationals they were holding as prisoners would be killed soon if the Pakistani government didn't release 60 detainees. A Taliban spokesman told Pakistani newspapers that Stanczak's body would only be handed over to authorities only after the detainees had been freed.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Monday the video was authenticated as genuine and pledged that Poland would work to bring Stanczak's killers to justice, the British newspaper said. After consultation with the country's justice minister, he said arrest warrants were issued.

"The cassette of the execution, this bestial execution, is authentic and unfortunately it confirms the worst," Sikorski said. "Now we can no longer save our compatriot, we are going to try to punish his killers.