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"I must unfortunately confirm that two German nationals have gone missing in Afghanistan," he told reporters.
"There is an intensive search for them underway. We are following up on indications that they may have been the victims of a kidnapping."
Westerwelle said his ministry and the German embassy in Kabul were in "close and constant contact" with the Afghan authorities. He declined to comment on the identity of those missing "for understandable reasons".
Afghan officials said they were German men who set off to go mountain climbing in Afghanistan and have been missing for several days.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011