Canadian hostage Joshua Boyle says Taliban murdered daughter and raped wife

Patrick Grafton-Green15 October 2017

A Canadian held hostage in Pakistan for nearly five years has revealed his captors murdered one of his children and raped his wife.

Joshua Boyle and wife Caitlan Coleman have touched down in Canada after they were kidnapped by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network while backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012.

Ms Coleman was heavily pregnant at the time with the couple’s first child.

Her father this week described the decision to visit the dangerous country as “unconscionable”.

The couple arrived home on Friday with three children, all born in captivity, but Mr Boyle revealed in a statement that a fourth child, a baby girl, was killed by their captors.

Joshua Boyle speaks to the media after arriving with his wife and three children to Toronto Pearson International Airport
REUTERS

Wearing a black sweatshirt and sporting a beard, Mr Boyle said in a calm voice: "The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani network in the kidnapping of a pilgrim... was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorising the murder of my infant daughter.

"And the stupidity and evil of the subsequent rape of my wife, not as a lone action, by one guard, but assisted by the captain of the guard and supervised by the commandant."

Pakistani troops rescued the family in the northwest of the country, near the Afghan border, this week.

Caitlan Coleman and husband Joshua Boyle holding their children while in captivity
AFP/Getty Images

The United States has long accused Pakistan of failing to fight the Taliban-allied Haqqani network.

Mr Boyle did not elaborate on what he meant by "pilgrim", or on the murder or rape. Ms Coleman, who is from the US, was not at the news conference.

He added: "Obviously, it will be of incredible importance to my family that we are able to build a secure sanctuary for our three surviving children to call a home.”

Linda and Patrick Boyle, parents of Joshua Boyle, speak with the media outside their home
AP

Both sets of parents have previously questioned why the couple were in Afghanistan in the first place.

"Taking your pregnant wife to a very dangerous place, to me, and the kind of person I am, is unconscionable," Ms Coleman's father, Jim, told ABC News.

He said: "I can't imagine doing that myself. But, I think that's all I want to say about that."

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