Gunmen kidnap eight Pakistani aid workers

Gunmen kidnapped eight Pakistani aid workers who had been distributing food to refugees in a dangerous part of the country close to the Afgan border, authorities said Tuesday. They were seized late Monday in the Surkhab area of Balochistan, said local administration official Habibullah Khan.
Khan said all the workers were Pakistanis. It was not clear which group they were working for. Police officer Mateen Khan said they had been handing out food to refugees from Afghanistan. An insurgency has wracked Balochistan for years and incidents of kidnapping for ransom are common there. Militants are also active in the region. Earlier this month, a Swiss man and woman were kidnapped, and they have yet to be recovered.