Doctors Abducted in Afghanistan

Also, huge bomb plot foiled
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 23, 2012 8:12 AM CDT
Doctors Abducted in Afghanistan
Afghan Army soldier drink tea at Chinari outpost in Logar province, east Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 22, 2012.   (Anja Niedringhaus)

Two foreign doctors and their three Afghan colleagues have been kidnapped in a remote area in the extreme northeast Afghanistan, officials said today. The kidnapping occurred yesterday as the group was traveling on horseback between Yaftal and Ragh districts about 56 miles from the provincial capital of Faizabad, a Badakhshan province spokesman said. He said it was unclear who the kidnappers were. Officials didn't reveal the identities of the hostages either, or the nonprofit they work for.

Meanwhile, the Afghan intelligence service said five insurgents were arrested today before they carried out a suicide attack along a main road leading to the capital's international airport. The would-be bombers were in a minivan loaded with 1,235 pounds of explosives when they were stopped at a checkpoint just after noon, the National Directorate of Security said in a statement. It said it had acted on a tip that an attack may be carried out in Kabul. The intelligence service said the foiled attack was meant as a protest against a NATO summit in Chicago last week. (More Afghanistan stories.)

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