Missing mountaineers

Two German mountaineers missing in Afghanistan since last week were thought to have been kidnapped, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle confirmed Tuesday.

"There is an intensive search for them under way. We are following up on indications that they may have been the victims of a kidnapping," the minister told reporters in Berlin.

The two men reportedly vanished in the vicinity of the Salang Pass linking the capital, Kabul, to the country's northern tribal regions.

Local police chief Sher Ahmad Maladani confirmed with the news agency AFP that the men were missing.

"They had not informed police about their destination, they had left their driver and had climbed the mountains," he said. "Late in the Friday, the driver informed us that the Germans had not returned from the mountains."

Taliban insurgents are not believed to be active in the region, which is considered among the more subdued in Afghanistan.

Senior Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui said his government was investigating the incident, whilst one local official has suggested the pair may have been abducted by Kuchi nomads.

The governor of Parwan province, Abdul Basir Salangi, said a number of Kuchi men had been detained in relation to the Germans' disappearance.

Dozens of foreigners have been kidnapped in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001. Most were released once ransom demands were met.

Germany has the third-largest contingent of troops stationed in Afghanistan with some 5,400 soldiers in the north under NATO command.

Author: Darren Mara (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Rob Turner