E-Paper
15-member medical team abducted in Afghanistan
The medical team, employed by Kandahar's refugee department, was travelling by bus to Taliban-dominated Zairai district.
A medical team of 15 people, mainly doctors and nurses, was kidnapped on Thursday while travelling to a refugee camp in Afghanistan's troubled southern province of Kandahar, an official said.
The medical team, employed by Kandahar's refugee department, was travelling by bus to Taliban-dominated Zairai district when unidentified men hijacked their vehicle, said refugee department official Agha Jan Nazari.
"We had a 15-member doctor team travelling to that district. Unknown people have kidnapped them and we don't know anything about their fates," he said.
"The kidnappers have not contacted us so far yet."
The team, which included a driver and two women, was kidnapped in the early morning, he said.
Similar kidnappings have been blamed on the hardline Taliban movement, which has been waging an insurgency since being toppled from government in late 2001.
