Taliban says it kidnapped two French aid workers

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban said on Wednesday they had kidnapped two French aid workers -- a man and a woman -- along with two Afghan colleagues in the southwest of the country.

Rebel spokesman Qari Mohammad Yusuf told Reuters by satellite phone the four were abducted on Tuesday in Nimroz province, between Iran ad Afghanistan's opium heartland of Helmand province.

Afghan and French officials said two French nationals and at least two Afghans have been missing in Nimroz since Tuesday. They did not confirm they had been abducted.

In Paris, foreign ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said the two working for Terre d'Enfance had been reported missing along with three Afghan guides.

"The foreign ministry as well as our embassy in Kabul are following this matter closely in cooperation with the local authorities as well as with the French NGO," he told an online news conference.

Nimroz police chief Mohammad Dawood Askaryar said the pair, their Afghan driver and their translator went missing while driving to neighboring Farah province.

Taliban insurgents have been active in the area recently.

Terre d'Enfance focuses on education and other projects for children in Nimroz.

The disappearance follows the kidnapping of Daniele Mastrogiacomo, a reporter for the Italian daily La Repubblica last month in Helmand.

He was released after two weeks when Kabul freed five Taliban officials, but his driver was beheaded and his translator remains hostage.

That deal drew strong criticism in Italy and security officials in Afghanistan warned it would embolden the insurgents into taking more Western captives.

(Additional reporting by Saeed Ali Achakzai in Spin Boldak and Paris newsroom)