One election official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said that the victims were all women and believed to include one
Irish citizen and one Croatian.
U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva confirmed the abductions but
declined to identify the victims or give their nationalities. The motive for the
attack was not clear, but Taliban rebels have in the past kidnapped Westerners,
and the U.S. Embassy had issued a warning earlier this month that abductions
might be attempted surrounding the Oct. 9 presidential vote.
Abdul Hadi Qasemi, an Afghan working for U.N. security, said the three were
stopped and abducted by five gunmen. He said the driver of the U.N. car was also
missing.
U.N. security staff ringed the white vehicle, found on a dusty street near an
office of the joint U.N.-Afghan electoral body set up to oversee the
presidential vote. The car, clearly marked with the world body's initials, had
its doors locked and there was no sign of any struggle.
The three were driven away in a dark-colored, four-wheel-drive vehicle in the
direction of Paghman, a district in the west of Kabul province that is
considered rife with banditry, said Abdul Jamil, head of the city police's
criminal department, citing witness accounts.
Police said officers manning checkpoints around the city and in neighboring
districts including Paghman were alerted to check the identity of any foreigners
passing their posts.
Two NATO helicopter gunships circled the city. NATO armed vehicles were
stationed on street corners in the city's upscale Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood,
where many aid workers and diplomats live.
Afghan security forces were stopping cars and questioning the passengers.
Afghanistan remains a largely lawless country in the grip of warlord
militias, despite the presence of thousands of American troops and other foreign
soldiers under NATO command.
About 1,000 people have died in political violence so far this year,
including more than 30 American soldiers. Still, it has not seen kidnappings or
suicide attacks of the intensity that is roiling Iraq.
A string of bombings and shootings blamed on militants killed at least a
dozen election workers in the run up to the presidential vote.
Election day passed relatively peacefully, but optimism that the militants
were a fading force was dampened Saturday when a suicide attacker armed with
grenades killed an American woman and an Afghan teenager and injured three NATO
soldiers in a Kabul shopping street.
Several foreign construction workers have been kidnapped along the
Kabul-Kandahar highway which is being rebuilt with mainly U.S. funds.
One Turkish engineer was shot dead in a shootout between kidnappers and
security guards in March. Others abducted, including Turks and Indians, were
later released unharmed.
