Red Cross worker kidnapped in Pakistan
A worker with the Swiss-run International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been abducted in Pakistan.
Armed men kidnapped the man from the city of Quetta on Thursday. The incident occurred not long after Islamist militants killed 15 Pakistani security guards whom they had captured last month.
The Geneva-headquartered ICRC confirmed the kidnapping on Thursday, saying the victim was a British doctor.
"He was on his way home from work in a clearly marked ICRC vehicle when he was seized some 200 metres away from an ICRC residence," the ICRC said in a statement on Thursday. Police said the worker had been visiting a school. No one has claimed responsibility.
"The ICRC currently has no indication as to the abductors' identities or motives... Despite the incident, the ICRC will be continuing its humanitarian work in Pakistan," the statement continued.
The ICRC, which has had a permanent presence in Pakistan since 1981, also announced that it was scaling down its work there and closing six of its ten offices because of “operational difficulties”.
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