KHOST, Afghanistan - Two Afghan engineers employed by an international aid group, and two other Afghans working with them, have been abducted in southeastern Afghanistan, police said Monday, blaming Taleban. Police said the engineers worked for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) but the group could not immediately confirm some of its staff were missing.The United Nations said it was aware of the report and looking into it.
The four were abducted in the remote Zurmat district of Paktia province onSunday afternoon, provincial police chief General Abdul Hanaan Raufi told AFP. “Two engineers from IOM and two other local liaison workers were abducted by Taleban yesterday afternoon in Zurmat,” said Raufi.
The missing men had not contacted police before going to the area, Raufi said, and he did not know what they were doing there. “We have tried to win their release through negotiation via tribal elders and influentials,” he said.