Gunmen kidnap 28 Afghan deminers

KABUL: Gunmen on Wednesday kidnapped 28 Afghan deminers working for a charity in western Afghanistan, police said.

The deminers were snatched in a district that is the focus of the Taliban insurgency in Farah province, provincial police chief Sayed Mohammad Roshan Del told AFP.

"Twenty-eight deminers were kidnapped by armed men in Bala Buluk district this morning," Roshandel siad.

"The kidnappers set ablaze one of the vehicles of the deminers and took the other three for themselves," he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction, but criminal groups and insurgents have repeatedly kidnapped dozens of Afghans and foreigners since a 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime.

Most are eventually freed for ransom or in exchange for prisoners' release.

The deminers were working for the Demining Agency for Afghanistan (DAFA), an Afghan charity based in the southern province of Kandahar.

In a similar incident last December, 18 Afghans working for Afghanistan-based Mine Detection Center (MDC) were kidnapped in the eastern province of Khost, which borders Pakistan.

They were freed unharmed one day later in a joint operation by Afghan and foreign troops.