A search is under way to find a female British aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan.
The unnamed woman, who is reported to be Scottish and in her 30s, was abducted yesterday in Kunar province, north-east Afghanistan, alongside three Afghan nationals with whom she is thought to have been working.
The international development professional for Development Alternatives Inc (DAI) was travelling in a convoy of two vehicles when insurgents attacked their party.
Kunar police chief Khalilullah Zaiyi said officers chased after the kidnappers and were engaged in a brief firefight before the men escaped.
A British foreign office spokeswoman said: “We can confirm a British national has been abducted in Afghanistan. We are working closely with all the relevant local authorities. We are also in touch with the family and are providing consular assistance.”
Local tribal elders are believed to be assisting in the search for the missing people.
An attack was launched on DAI offices in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, in July, in which a British private security guard was killed.
Shaun Sexton, a 29-year-old former member of the Parachute Regiment, worked for DAI’s security sub-contractor, Edinburgh International. Three other security guards employed by the firm, two Afghans and one German, were also killed.
Last month, British aid worker Dr Karen Woo was shot dead with nine colleagues in Afghanistan. They were returning from delivering medical supplies to poor Afghans in remote mountain communities, in an expedition organised by Kabul-based Christian charity the International Assistance Mission.
PA