Gunmen kidnap 16 Afghan UN demining workers: police
GARDEZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped 16 Afghans working for a United Nations-sponsored demining agency in eastern Afghanistan, U.N. officials and police said on Sunday.
The Afghan deminers work for the Mine Detection and Dog Center (MDDC), part of the overall U.N. mine clearing agency in Afghanistan known as UNMACA. They were seized while traveling between Khost and Paktia provinces late on Saturday, Paktia's police chief said.
"We do not know who kidnapped them and why. We are investigating," Azizullah Wardak told reporters in the Paktia provincial capital Gardez.
UNMACA official Gul Agha Ahmadzai said they were snatched as they drove along the Logar-Gardez road which links with Khost.
Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world after almost 30 years of war, with more than 640 sq km (250 sq miles) of land still containing mines.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for Saturday's abductions, the latest episode in an escalation of attacks and kidnappings by Taliban insurgents and criminal gangs.
In Gardez last year, 13 deminers working for another agency were kidnapped by a criminal gang. They were freed a month later after mediation by tribal chiefs.
Kidnapping of Afghans and foreigners has become a lucrative business both for militants and criminal gangs in Afghanistan. Some captives have been killed while others have been released after ransoms were apparently paid.
With insurgent violence at its worst since the Taliban were ousted from power in late 2001, thousands of of U.S. Marines launched a major new offensive this week in southern Helmand province, long a Taliban stronghold and opium growing hub.
The operation is the first big offensive under U.S. President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan.
Up to 150,000 people have been killed or wounded by landmines or explosive remnants in Afghanistan since 1989, the United Nations says. In 2003, Kabul signed the Ottawa Treaty, committing itself to rid the country of all mines by 2013.
(Reporting by Kamal Sadat; Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Paul Tait and Valerie Lee)
