Gunmen snatch Aussie woman in Afghanistan

An Australian woman has been kidnapped in Kabul, the third Australian abducted in Afghanistan this year.

An Australian woman has been kidnapped in Kabul, the third Australian abducted in Afghanistan this year.

Local media described the woman as Afghan-Australian and said she had been surrounded by gunmen in the Qala-e-Fatullah area of Kabul before she was bundled into a car.

A number of foreigners have been kidnapped in the same area.

Kidnapping is rife in Afghanistan, particularly abductions of local businessmen and their families, a crime that is usually carried out by gangs seeking ransom.

The woman is believed to be aged in her late 20s and had been working for the Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief and Development, which organises the delivery of aid in Afghanistan.

A source in Kabul told The Australian the woman had only recently arrived in Afghanistan to take up the position.

She had previously worked on other aid projects in Afghanistan and had been “coming in and out for the last couple of years”.

He said that while she was of Afghan origin she had grown up in Australia.

“The Australian embassy in Kabul is making urgent inquiries into reports an Australian has been kidnapped in Kabul,” the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said yesterday.

“Due to the nature of the incident we will not be commenting further.

“We continue to advise Australians not to travel to Afghanistan because of the extremely dangerous security situation, ­including the serious threat of kidnapping.”

Aid worker Kerry Jane Wilson, 60, was released in August unharmed after being held for four months.

Another Australian man, a lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan, was kidnapped at gunpoint in August, along with a US colleague, after they had left the campus.

A few days after the two men were abducted, US special forces launched a mission, approved by President Barack Obama to rescue them.

The US soldiers killed several militants at a compound but it was reported that the two hostages had been moved from the area only hours before.

Reports said the men were being held by the Haqqani network, a hardline faction of the Taliban fighting NATO forces and the Afghan government.