Islamabad: Two Pakistani nuclear experts have been abducted in the country's restive north-western region along the Afghan border on Monday, when Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, too was reportedly abducted from the same region.
The two are senior officials at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) — identified as Ziaullah and Bisaat Khan.
They were among the eight people who were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from a troubled area on Monday.
"The PAEC officials Ziaullah and Bisaat Khan were kidnapped on Monday by unidentified armed men in Sheikh Badin area adjacent to the Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan districts," local police chief Akbar Nasir said.
Both officials were technicians and were on a routine visit to conduct a geological survey for mineral exploration in the mountainous area. The other abducted men include their driver Safdar and five locals.
The abduction of the PAEC officials came on the same day as the disappearance of Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azeezuddin, who was on his way from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the Afghan capital Kabul.
The two were on a mission to map mineral deposits in the mountains when they were kidnapped, police say. "The technicians were going for some geological survey in the area when they were kidnapped at gunpoint along with their driver," Reuters quoted a senior police official as saying.
The two were taken hostage after their vehicle was intercepted by masked gunmen in the Dera Ismail Khan district, a stronghold of local militants. Police are clueless if the abductors were militants or members of some criminal gang.
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