US-led coalition forces and Afghan troops have found on Saturday the body of British engineer David Addison kidnapped in western Afghanistan, an Afghan official said.

"In a searching operation in the area they found the body of the engineer," spokesman of the Interior Ministry Lutfullah Mashaltold Xinhua.

Taliban militants kidnapped the Britain national and his local interpreter Wednesday in Tootchakan area near Shind and of Herat province, and three policemen lost their lives when they tried to foil the conspiracy.

It is the first time that such incident has occurred in Shindand, which is famous for its strategically important airport close to the Iranian border in west Afghanistan.

"We have no information about the interpreter so far," Mashal added.

In the meantime, Taliban's spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi, who claimed the movement's fighters had taken into custody the Britishnational, was reported to have said they had executed the engineer.

Earlier in the day, British Minister of State for the Foreign Office Kim Howells said the body found in western Afghanistan is believed to be that of David Addison, who was abducted after gunmen attacked the convoy he was traveling in.

Addison was part of a team of engineers and road builders working on the construction of a major road between the southern city of Kandahar and the western city of Herat.

Source: Xinhua