5 aid workers abducted in Badakhshan

FAIZABAD (PAN, of the Switzerland-based emergency relief and rehabilitation organisation, Medair, were abducted in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, officials said on Wednesday.

The five people, including three Afghan men, were kidnapped by armed men in the Shalkhazar village of Yaftal district, Public Health Director Dr. Noor Mohammad Khawri told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The NGO staffers, working in the child nutration area over the past five years, were abducted on their way to a Yawan Yaftal clinic, he said, refusing to reveal identities of the victims for security reason.

Governor Abdul Maroof Rasikh confirmed the abductions, but gave no further details. A  search operation for the kidnappers had been mounted in the district, said the police chief of Shahr-i-Buzarg district, Sher Ali.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the abduction.

myn/mud