2 Pakistan nuclear officials kidnapped

Two officials of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission were among eight people who have been kidnapped near the Afghan border.

Two officials of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) were among eight people who have been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from a troubled northwestern area near the Afghan border.

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"The PAEC officials Ziaullah and Bisaat Khan were kidnapped yesterday by unidentified armed men in Sheikh Badin area adjacent to the Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan districts," said local police chief Akbar Nasir.

Both officials were technicians and were on a routine visit to conduct a geological survey for mineral exploration in the mountainous area. The other abducted men include their driver Safdar and five locals.

The abduction of the PAEC officials came on the same day as the disappearance of Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azeezuddin, who was on his way from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the Afghan capital Kabul.