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Australian Kidnapped In Afghanistan


FILE: A hillside neighborhood of Jamal Mina high above downtown Kabul.
FILE: A hillside neighborhood of Jamal Mina high above downtown Kabul.

The Australian government said it was trying to confirm reports that one of its nationals has been kidnapped in Afghanistan, the latest in a string of abductions of foreign aid workers.

"The Australian Embassy in Kabul is making urgent enquiries into reports an Australian has been kidnapped in Kabul," a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra said in an emailed statement on November 6. "Due to the nature of the incident we will not be commenting further."

Afghan television station Tolo News reported on November 6 that the Australian woman was abducted at gunpoint in the Qala-I Fatullah area in the center of Kabul.

The woman is believed to have been working for a nongovernmental organization in Afghanistan.

There have been several kidnappings of foreign aid workers recently, including at least two Australians this year.

Kerry Jane Wilson, who was kidnapped from the office of a charity in the eastern city of Jalalabad in April, was freed in August.

Another Australian, working as a teacher at the American University in Kabul, was kidnapped in August.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Tolo News

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