KABUL, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Afghan local authorities have found the body of Indian hostage Suryanarayan hours after his execution by suspected Taliban militants in southern Zabul province, a local official confirmed Sunday.

    "We found the body this morning," Mohammad Mir, the district chief of Shah Joi district, told Xinhua.

    Earlier, Taliban's purported spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi claimed from unknown location that the fundamentalist fighters opened fire and killed the engineer on the spot after he attempted escape from detention center.

    He also added that the leadership of Taliban was sorry of the incident as the dateline was yet to over.

    Taliban-linked militia kidnapped the Indian engineer Friday and gave a 24-hour dateline for his release on Saturday that ends on Sunday at 6 p.m.

    The militias also linked his release with the packing and withdrawal of Indian companies from Afghanistan.

    Surynarayan's execution is taking place amid the arrival of an Indian delegation to seek his release and ensure the security of Indian nationals living in Afghanistan.

    Afghan officials have yet to comment on the subject.

    India with contribution over 600 million U.S. dollars is among the major contributors in rebuilding Afghanistan and thus a number of Indian firms are engaged in reconstruction activities in the war-ravaged country.

    Suryanarayan worked for a cellular company the ROSHAN in post-Taliban Afghanistan is the second Indian engineer executed by Taliban militants over the past two years.

    The first one worked for an Indian Road Construction company was killed last year. Enditem