KABUL - Two foreign doctors and their three Afghan colleagues have been kidnapped in a remote area in northeast Afghanistan, officials say.
Abdul Maroof Rasikh, the spokesman for the governor of Badakhshan province, says it is unclear who kidnapped the five. He says they were snatched on Tuesday while travelling on horseback between Yaftal and Ragh districts about 90 kilometres from the provincial capital of Faizabad.
The five were employed by a non-profit humanitarian organisation.
The organisation, Swiss-based Medair, said it had lost contact with its staff but considered this to be a "missing persons" case, spokesman Aurelien Demaurex said on Wednesday. He said reports the staffers were abducted remained "unconfirmed."
Medair provided emergency relief and rehabilitation.
Also on Wednesday, the Afghan intelligence service said five insurgents were foiled in a suicide attack along a main road leading to the capital's international airport.