Scores ‘abducted by Afghan Taliban’

More than 150 workers captured by fighters after convoy is stopped in Farah province.

Afghanistan map pic

Official abducted

News of the workers’ capture comes after the Afghan consulate said that Afghanistan’s consul-general in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar was abducted on Monday.

Abdul Khaliq Farahi was seized by an attack on his car which killed the driver, Zahir Khan Babari, an official at the Afghan consulate, said.

“The driver was killed in the firing, consul-general Abdul Khaliq Farahi has been abducted,” he said.

The car in which Farahi was travelling was attacked by gunmen as it travelled from the consulate in central Peshawar to his home in the suburbs, Banaras Khan, a police officer, said.

“The driver was killed, it was an Afghan consulate car. I am on the spot, we are investigating,” Khan said.

Farahi, was due to take over in coming days as the Afghan ambassador to Islamabad, officials said.

The incident, being close to Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, comes amid tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.

The Afghan government has alleged that Pakistan is failing to crack down on fighters linked to al-Qaeda and pro-Taliban groups in its tribal border regions.

Source: News Agencies