Five Aid Workers Kidnapped In Afghanistan

Five aid workers were kidnapped at gunpoint in Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials report. The five kidnapped are two foreign women doctors, and three Afghan translators and guides.

The Huffington Post reports that Abdul Maroon Rasikh, who is a spokesman for the governor of Badakhshan province, stated that they do not yet know who kidnapped the five, however, they know that they were taken on Tuesday while they traveled on horseback between the districts of Yaftal and Ragh, which ave about 55 miles from the provincial capital of Faizabad.

The aid workers names have not been released, but authorities state the area they were taken from is not a focus of insurgents in Afghanistan, but rather it is home to groups of criminal gunman, according to The Chicago Tribune.

Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a police spokesman for northern Afghanistan, stated that:

“They were travelling by donkey. Two foreign women and their Afghan translators were kidnapped and we have started a search operation.”

The Huffington Post reports that the workers were with a Swiss-based organization called Medair. Spokesman for the group, Aurelien Demareux, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that they are considering the incident to be a “missing persons” case, as they have lost contact with their staff members.

Demareux stated to the AP that reports of the workers being abducted were “unconfirmed.” According to the group’s website, Medair works in Afghanistan and other countries to provide emergency relief and rehabilitation.

Also in Afghanistan, officials are celebrating the arrest of five insurgents, who were attempting a suicide bombing attack on a checkpoint in Kabul. The Huffington Post reports that the National Directorate of Security was able to foil the insurgents plans after acting on a tip that there would be a bombing in Kabul.