Deputy public works minister kidnapped

KABUL (Pajhwok): Unidentified gunmen abducted the deputy public works minister on Tuesday when he was on his way from home to office in the Khair Khana neighbourhood of Kabul city, officials said.

Sources at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said Eng. Ahmad Shah Wahid was stopped and kidnapped by armed men on the way from his home.

Kabul City police chief Hashmatullah Stanikzai told Pajhwok Afghan News the abduction, the first high profile in years, took place around 7am and that a search operation had been launched for the missing official. Wahid’s driver was shot and injured by the gunmen after he tried to drive away to safety, he said.

But another official said Wahid’s guards were also shot injured before the deputy minister was dragged into a four-wheel-drive vehicle, which sped away.

There has been no ransom demand so far and it was not immediately clear who was behind the abduction.

Regarded as a social and professional man, Wahid, in his mid-50s, studied engineering and road construction in Italy and has been deputy minister for four years. Before that, he worked in the ministry overseeing road reconstruction, officials said.

A Taliban spokesman said by telephone that he was not aware of today’s abduction but would check to see if the insurgents were involved.

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