KABUL, 17 May 2005 — An Italian aid worker was abducted yesterday by a gang of armed men in the Afghan capital Kabul, Italian Embassy and police officials said.
Afghan police had earlier identified the woman as Canadian. “Yes, we can confirm that an Italian woman was abducted today in Kabul,” an embassy spokesman told AFP.
The woman, who works for CARE International, was abducted at around 8:30 p.m. (1600 GMT) by four armed men driving a white Toyota Corolla car, police said.
A man who was with her managed to escape, police quick reaction force commander Gen. Mahboob Amiri said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said she was seized while driving on her own in Qala-e-Mosa district of the city.
An Afghan intelligence source said her car was stopped by the armed men, who smashed the windows to take her out and kidnap her.
Mashal said police had been mobilized across Kabul to track down the abductors.
Meanwhile, the US military yesterday claimed the insurgents are weaker now than they were last year.
“I would characterize our enemies as significantly weaker than they were a year ago and their influence continues to wane, despite any claims to the contrary,” Col. Gary Cheek, the commander of Regional Command East told reporters in Kabul.
“Much of the enemy contact we see is limited to the border region where insurgents can launch small scale attacks, and then attempt to return to Pakistan,” Cheek said.
However, Cheek said that coalition forces have had an increase in improvised explosive device incidents recently.
Cheek also predicted that more Taleban and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar fighters would take advantage of an amnesty in return for laying down their weapons.
“Many of them are just plain tired of fighting and constantly being on the run. They express a desire to come back home to Afghanistan to rejoin their families and return to normal life,” according to Cheek.
