Croatian Kidnapped in Kabul

[Ivo Skoric]

CNN

 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP ) -- Armed men kidnapped three foreign
 election workers as they   drove in a white sport utility vehicle in
 the Afghan capital on Thursday, the United     Nations and Afghan
 officials said.                                   


 An election official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that
 the victims were all women and were believed to include one Irish
 citizen and one Croatian.                   


 U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva confirmed the abductions 
but
 declined to        identify the victims or give their nationalities. 

                                  


 The motive for the attack was not clear, but Taliban rebels have in
 the past kidnapped   Westerners, and the U.S. Embassy issued a
 warning earlier this month that abductions     might be attempted
 surrounding the October 9 presidential vote.                         

 


 Abdul Hadi Qasemi, an Afghan working for U.N. security, said the
 three were stopped and  abducted by five gunmen. He said the driver
 of the U.N. car was also missing.            


 On Thursday afternoon, U.N. security staff ringed the white vehicle,
 found on a dusty    street near an office of the joint U.N.-Afghan
 electoral body set up to oversee the      presidential vote.         

                          


 The car, clearly marked with the world body's initials, had its 
doors
 locked; there was  no sign of any struggle.                          

         


 The three were driven away in a dark-colored four-wheel drive 
vehicle
 in the direction   of Paghman, a district in the west of Kabul
 province that is considered rife with        banditry, said Abdul
 Jamil, head of the city police's criminal department, citing       
 witness accounts.                                   


 Police said officers manning checkpoints around the city and in
 neighboring provinces    were alerted to check the identity of any
 foreigners passing their posts.                


 Two NATO helicopter gunships were circling over the city. NATO armed
 vehicles were       stationed on street corners in the city's Wazir
 Akbar Khan neighborhood, where many aid  workers and diplomats live. 

                                  


 Afghan security forces were stopping cars and questioning 
passengers.
                    


 Afghanistan remains a largely lawless country in the grip of warlord
 militias, despite   the presence of thousands of American troops and
 other foreign soldiers under NATO       command.                     

              


 About 1,000 people have died in political violence so far this year,
 including more than 30 American soldiers. Still, it has not seen
 kidnappings or suicide attacks of the       intensity that is 
roiling
 Iraq.                                   


 A string of bombings and shootings blamed on militants killed at
 least a dozen election  workers in the run up to the presidential
 vote.                                   


 Election day passed relatively peacefully, but optimism that the
 militants were a fading force was dampened Saturday when a suicide
 attacker armed with grenades killed an        American woman and an
 Afghan teenager and injured three NATO soldiers in a Kabul        
 shopping street.                                   


 Several foreign construction workers have been kidnapped along the
 Kabul-Kandahar        highway which is being rebuilt with mainly 
U.S.
 funds.                                   


 One Turkish engineer was shot dead in a shootout between kidnappers
 and security guards  in March. Others abducted, including Turks and
 Indians, were later released unharmed.    










---------------------------------------------------------
Ivo Skoric
19 Baxter Street
Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo at balkansnet.org
balkansnet.org