ASIA: French aid worker kidnapped in Kabul, Afghan killed
03 Nov 2008 10:41 PMASIA: French aid worker kidnapped in Kabul, Afghan killed
By Sharif Khoram
KABUL, Nov 3 AFP - Gunmen abducted a French aid worker in the Afghan capital today and shot dead an Afghan man who tried to rescue him in the latest of a series of attacks on foreigners, the Kabul government said.
The abducted man, identified by his Paris-based organisation as 32-year-oldDany Egreteau, an education specialist who had arrived in Afghanistan on avisit a week ago, was kidnapped as he was going to a work meeting.
The Frenchman was walking through a residential area of Kabul about 9am when he was snatched by three armed men, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashari told AFP. A second foreigner escaped, witnesses said.
"A man... who tried to help and stop the abductors was shot and killed as he tried to scuffle with the abductors," Bashari added.
A statement from the ministry said that the abducted man had been walking to his office at the Afrane educational organisation in the Kart-e-Parwan suburb close to the city centre.
There has been a series of kidnappings in the capital, mostly by criminalgangs seeking thousands of dollars in ransom, and three expatriates were shot dead in attacks last month.
The Taliban denied involvement in the attack. The dead man was identified by his uncle as Malik, 26, who was a driver for a provincial intelligence department.
"My nephew tried to stop them abducting the foreigners," said Ghulam Hazrat, 50.
"He grabbed the gun of one of the kidnappers. The other shot him dead with five bullets. At this time one of the foreigners ran away and they put the other in the car, kicking him badly."
The armed men had grabbed the two men as they were walking and tried to shove them into the car when Malik intervened, he said.
Another witness said he had seen two foreign men being followed down a street by two armed men with a third in a car behind them.
They had started to run and one had tripped and was grabbed by the kidnappers, said Hajatullah, 28, who lives in the area.
"A man stopped his car and tried to take the gun from one of the abductors.The second abductor opened fire and killed the man trying to help. The twoforced the foreigner into the waiting car and disappeared," he said.
There are hundreds of international aid organisations in Afghanistan tryingto help the country recover from three decades of war.
An NGO security watchdog, ANSO, has said attacks against humanitarian groups were at their highest this year since the extremist Taliban regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
A woman with dual British and South African citizenship who was working with disabled children was shot dead in the capital last month in a killing claimed by the Taliban insurgent movement which alleged her NGO was preachingChristianity. The charge was rejected by the group, SERVE Afghanistan.
Another South African and a Briton were shot dead by an Afghan guard last week as they arrived at work for their company, the international courier firm DHL.
The guard then turned the gun on himself. The interior ministry said the killing may have been a terrorist attack or the motivation may have been personal.
There have been several brazen attacks in Kabul this year, including the storming of a five-star hotel in January, an attempt to kill President Hamid Karzai in April and July's bombing of the Indian embassy which left about 60 people dead.
AFP jj =0A