Three Pakistani among six contractors kidnapped in Afghanistan

MAZAR-I-SHARIF: A team of three Pakistanis and three Afghans who were working on a road building project in northern Afghanistan have been kidnapped, a local official said on Friday.

The five construction engineers and their Afghan driver were abducted as they travelled by convoy in the relatively peaceful north of the country late Thursday, the local director of public works told AFP.

"Six people have been kidnapped, three Pakistani engineers, two Afghan engineers and also their driver," said Enayatullah Zafar.

"They were kidnapped as they were travelling from Jawzjan to Sari Pul province to start their work."

The governor of Sari Pul province, Sayed Anwar Rahmati, said police had been dispatched to the area to try to track down the men, who had been hired by the Afghan government to work on the project.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but Rahmati blamed the Taliban, saying "small groups" of the insurgents were operating in the mountainous area.

The abduction is the latest in a series of kidnappings of Afghan and foreign nationals in Afghanistan since a US-led invasion ousted Taliban in 2001.

Most hostages are released unharmed following negotiations, but last December a Bangladeshi road worker was killed during a kidnapping in northern Afghanistan. Five of his colleagues remain in captivity.