Afghanistan ? A purported Taliban statement demanded the release of a number of the group’s fighters and the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the freedom of two kidnapped French aid workers.

Separately, suspected Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol in eastern Afghanistan in a clash that left five militants and one police officer dead, while NATO-led troops shot and killed a suspected militant and wounded another in the south, officials said.

The Taliban has claimed it abducted a French man and woman and three Afghans from the aid group Terre d’Enfance who disappeared April 3, in the southwestern Nimroz province.

The apparent kidnapping came after Afghan authorities released five Taliban prisoners in exchange for an Italian newspaper reporter, who was abducted along with his two Afghan colleagues in southern Helmand province on March 5. The two Afghans were killed.

The exchange was widely criticized by Afghan lawmakers, analysts and international workers, who said it would encourage further abductions.