Afghan mine clearing team kidnapped

Unknown gunmen believed to be Taliban insurgents kidnapped an Afghan demining team that includes two doctors in a remote village in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Friday.
The team from the Afghan Technical Consultants non-governmental organisation was snatched at gunpoint Thursday about 80km south of Kabul, the director of the organisation told AFP.
"Thirteen of our staff have been kidnapped," director Kefayatullah Eblagh told AFP in Kabul. The team included two doctors and eight mine clearers, as well as drivers and assistants.
He could not say who took the men. Villagers in the area in the eastern Paktia province reported seeing the group being driven off by unknown gunmen.
Din Mohammad Darivish, a spokesman for the local administration, told AFP that Taliban insurgents were likely to have kidnapped the mine clearers.
The Islamic militant group said last week, days after it freed 19 South Korean hostages captured July 19, that kidnapping was an "effective" tool against the government and a tactic it would continue.
Eblagh said his team had gone to the remote area in the Sayed Karam district, under a guarantee from tribal chiefs that they would be safe. The elders had promised to try to free them.