Australian woman abducted in Afghanistan

Australian authorities are making urgent inquiries in Afghanistan after local media reported an Australian NGO worker has been abducted at gunpoint in Kabul.

Photo: zedwards, used under Creative Commons License (By ND 2.0)

A Kabul street. Source: Photo: zedwards, used under Creative Commons License

Unknown gunmen have kidnapped a female Australian employee of a non-governmental organisation in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Afghan police say.

General Abdul Rahman Rahimi, the Kabul city police chief, said that a Pakistani-born Australian woman was abducted on Saturday night.

Rahimi added that she was with her driver while she was taken away by gunmen.

It is not clear what happened to her Afghan driver.

"We have had lots of developments in the abduction case ... but right now I can't share it with the media," said Rahimi.

Another police official with the Kabul police chief's office, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said that she was more than 40 years old and worked for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief or ACBAR.

In Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement, that the embassy was making "urgent inquiries" into the issue.

The statement added: "We continue to advise Australians not to travel to Afghanistan because of the extremely dangerous security situation, including the serious threat of kidnapping."

In April, another Australian female aid worker was kidnapped in eastern Nangarhar province; she was released in August after nearly four months in captivity.


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2 min read

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Source: AAP



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