By Tim Johnston

KABUL - The purist Islamic Taleban on Monday arrested Emma Bonino, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, and 18 others for some 2-1/2 to three hours before releasing them, sources said. Those detained and then freed with Bonino included CNN television correspondent Christiane Amanpour. "I don't know why I have been taken into custody for a few hours," Bonino said later in an interview with CNN. She said some of the non-governmental workers in her party were beaten on their backs by Taleban with Kalashnikov assault rifles but she herself was not hurt. "No, I was just threatened by a Kalashnikov," she said when asked if she had been hit. Asked if she had feared for her safety, she replied: "No, no, no... I was really afraid because the situation could escalate on their side." No one appeared to be in charge, she added. She said all the belongings of the group were handed back upon their release without any explanation. The commissioner, her delegation, aid workers and journalists were arrested after

taking pictures in a women's hospital in Kabul, according to a Taleban security official. "They have been arrested because they didn't have any letters from the authorities and they were taking pictures of women," said security official Hajji Habibullah. "It is the policy of the Taleban that no unrelated man may take pictures of women. They were brought in for this offence. The head of the hospital came to complain to us that they were taking pictures," he said. "They had tape recorders and video cameras." -The Taleban have banned all photographs of living beings, saying they are un-Islamic. When they captured Kabul last September, they tore tape from video and music cassettes and used it to festoon checkpoints. The group was detained for several hours in the hot, dusty yard of a police station in central Kabul, guarded by turbaned Taleban fighters armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles. The Taleban laid out carpets in the shade of a tree, and one of the guards said the detainees had been offered western soft

drinks to slake their thirst. Their release apparently came after the authorities consulted with Mullah Mohammed Rabbani, acting head of the Taleban's interim ruling council in Kabul. Bonino was in Kabul for a 24-hour visit to assess the effect of the $40 million that the European Union has given for emergency aid in Afghanistan. The European Union is the single largest donor of emergency aid to Afghanistan. Bonino's visit was being covered by Amanpour, the CNN reporter known for her reporting on the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Amanpour was arrested with two members of a camera crew. Also arrested were several aid workers who were showing the delegation their work in Kabul. They included at least two representatives from Care International, one of the world's largest aid organisations.