Afghanistan Times
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AT-KABUL: Efforts by Afghan security forces underway to rescue abducted ICRC employee in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunduz province, a police source said Tuesday.
Mahfuzullah Akbari, the police spokesman for northeastern zone said that security forces were trying to secure safe release of the abducted ICRC employee in Kunduz province. The staff member of the ICRC had been kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Ali-Abad district of Kunduz province at around 11:00 am [local time] on Monday morning he said.
Mahfuzullah Akbari said the police have no information on whereabouts of the abducted ICRC employee, a Spanish citizen.
According to the spokesman, motive behind the abduction remains unclear.
ICRC in a media statement said that several staff members were travelling in two vehicles from Mazar-e-Sharif to Kunduz when unidentified armed men stopped them. One male colleague was taken. The rest were let go.
“We’re extremely concerned for the safety of our colleague. We’re doing our best to discover what precisely happened, and to secure his safe and unconditional release as quickly as possible,” said the ICRC’s head of delegation in Afghanistan, Monica Zanarelli.
“The ICRC is in contact with various authorities to try and secure the individual’s release. His family has been informed. It would not be appropriate, at this stage, to provide more information,” the Red Cross said.
The ICRC has been working in Afghanistan for nearly thirty years, providing medical care, supporting water and sanitation services and acting as a neutral intermediary to enable humanitarian work to take place.
