Two Bangladeshi workers abducted in Afghanistan

Dhaka, Oct 25 (DPA) Two Bangladeshi development workers based in Afghanistan were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen Thursday, an official from the non-governmental Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) said Saturday.

Akhter Ali and Mohammad Shahjahan Ali, BRAC area managers in Afghanistan's central Ghazni province, were taken from their office in Moi Mobarok in the provincial capital, the Dhaka-based group said in a statement.

The gunmen attacked another Afghan national working for the organisation, according to BRAC.

BRAC said it sought assistance from Afghan Interior Minister Hanif Atmar, and the government assured them of all-out support in trying to rescue the two, said Zia Hashan, BRAC's communications manager in Dhaka.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Afghan ministry of rural rehabilitation and development were also informed, he added.

'A high-level team has been sent to Ghazni from the BRAC Afghanistan head office in Kabul to gather information and to liaise with the Afghan authorities,' the BRAC statement said.

Last September, unidentified gunmen killed BRAC official Abdul Alim. Three days later, another BRAC executive, Nurul Islam, was kidnapped but released after 83 days.

BRAC has been operating in Afghanistan for three years in the fields of education, health and providing livelihood support through

micro-credit programmes.