An Italian aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan this week is safe, according to the Afghan foreign minister.
Afghan authorities are searching for Clementina Cantoni (32), a worker for the Care International aid agency, who was kidnapped in central Kabul on Monday.
"I can only say that some government officials . . . are in contact and they are aware of the safety of the kidnapped, but I have no further information," Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said in Tokyo.
The abduction raised fresh fears among Kabul's 2,000-strong foreign community of Iraq-style kidnappings by anti-government insurgents, but President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said on Tuesday robbers could be behind the incident.
Concerns over security in Afghanistan have also been fuelled by anti-US protests that killed 16 and injured more than 100 last week, set off by the Newsweekreport that US interrogators had desecrated the Muslim holy book of Koran by flushing ti down a toilet.
Newsweekretracted the report on Monday, saying it could not be substantiated.
"The news it turned [out] was not true. But it is very unfortunate that due to the spread of that news we had too many casualties and a lot of disturbances in Afghanistan," Mr Abdullah said.
"That shows how important, how sensitive is what media is doing. A very credible magazine like Newsweekin just one line of news, what could be the impact," he said.