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Scottish Red Cross worker kidnapped by Taliban
More details to follow the post from earlier this morning.
A Scots nurse for the Red Thingy Cross was kidnapped at gunpoint by Taliban terrorists yesterday. Khalil Dale, 59, who was working in Pakistan, was held up and bundled into a car as he drove home. The snatch came 200 yards from a building used by the charity in Quetta.

Red Thingy Cross officials said last night they are "extremely worried" about the safety of Muslim convert Khalil, 59, from Dumfries, who was in a marked Red Thingy Cross Land Cruiser.

The nurse, formerly known as Ken, worked at Dumfries Infirmary before quiting the job to devote his life to aid projects. A Red Thingy Cross spokesman last night called for his "rapid and unconditional release."

Senior Quetta police officer Nazeer Kurd said, "He was entering a lane when he was stopped by around seven or eight men in a Land Cruiser. The rest of the men stayed inside the vehicle while one man armed with a pistol stopped the hostage's car.

"Cars normaly slow down while taking this turn. So they took the British national, Khalil Dale, out of the car. They took his car keys and they moved towards the airport road."

Another officer said Khalil had been traveling with a Pakistani doctor and a driver who were not seized.

Former hospital colleague Sheila Howat said yesterday, "He's a lovely person I knew well when I worked at the infirmary. We were part of the group Friends of the Earth and I used to collect books which primary schools did not want for Ken. He sent them to all parts of the world, particularly Malawi."

Khalil was involved in protests against the firing of depleted uranium at the MoD range at Dundrennan, near Kirkcudbright in 2003. He was also a member of the Dumfries branch of the Coalition For Justice Not War.

John Dennis, a friend from the group, said, "I knew Ken from the time around the protests against the war in Iraq and we worked together on local political campaigns."

A British Red Thingy Cross spokesman said, "We are aware of an incident involving a Red Thingy Cross worker in Pakistan and are working with the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross, and Red Thingy Cross Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent Movement internationally to seek further clarification of the situation."
Posted by: ryuge 2012-01-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=336622