An Italian aid worker kidnapped from her car in the Afghan capital is well and her kidnappers have opened a channel of communication with Afghan authorities, an Italian embassy official said today.
Clementina Cantoni, 32, who works for the CARE International aid agency, was snatched Monday evening when gunmen stopped her vehicle on a central Kabul street and bundled her into a white Toyota car.
The abduction raised fresh fears among Kabul's 2,000-strong foreign community of Iraq-style kidnappings by anti-government insurgents. But investigators did not suspect Taliban rebels or al Qaeda militants, officials said.
The government suspected a gang of criminals seeking the release of their detained leader was responsible, but Afghan and Italian officials have declined to elaborate on that suspicion, or on efforts to secure Cantoni's freedom.
Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said Tuesday his government knew Cantoni was well.
A source close to the negotiations told Reuters in Rome what the kidnappers wanted was not yet clear. "Contact has been made in order to clarify the aim of the incident," the source said.
Negotiators had heard Cantoni's voice in a recorded statement played over the telephone, the source said.
In Kabul, an embassy official confirmed those details but declined to elaborate. "I cannot tell you how we know this," the official said.
Various agencies were working together on the case, he said.
"All the concerned bodies are involved and this coordination is starting to give results ... We are reasonably optimistic."
An Afghan government official also expressed cautious optimism.
CARE International declined to comment. The Taliban have denied kidnapping Cantoni.
President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Jawed Ludin, said on Tuesday members of a gang of thieves demanding the release of jailed comrades, including their leader, Tela Mohammad, were believed responsible.
The same gang kidnapped three U.N. election workers in October in Kabul. They were released 27 days later.
Mohammad and several of his gang were recently detained.
"Members of the group had recently threatened to kidnap foreigners if the government did not release some members of the group, including its head," Ludin said.