German, Italian aid workers kidnapped in Multan: police

MULTAN: Masked gunmen kidnapped a German aid worker and his Italian colleague overnight in Multan, local police said on Friday. The kidnappings bring to six the number of Westerners abducted since July in Pakistan.

“Three gunmen barged into a house and abducted an Italian and a German national at gunpoint on Thursday evening,” Multan city police officer Aamir Zulfiqar Khan told AFP by telephone. “The two men were working for a foreign non-government organisation.” Police said the motive and identity of the kidnappers was unclear.

There was no claim of responsibility for the abductions in Multan, which is about 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of the capital Islamabad and which in the past has not been considered particularly dangerous for Westerners.

A local security official told AFP that the kidnappers pistol-whipped a private security guard, then snatched the aid workers, but left behind a Western woman in the house that the group rented. “The woman was unable to identify the kidnappers because they covered their faces with masks,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.