September 27, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan --Two foreign Red Cross workers who aided in freeing a group of South Korean hostages last month have been abducted in Afghanistan as they were trying to help secure the release of a German captive, Afghan officials said Thursday.Prayers for the safety of the aid workers and of Rudolf Blechschmidt, the kidnapped engineer. This must be devastating news for his family. Pray that they will be comforted for now, and that they will be blessed with his safe return soon.The foreigners and two Afghan staffers failed to return to their base Wednesday evening after a mission to pick up the German man and fellow Afghan hostages in central Wardak province.
Ewaz Muslimyar, the police chief of Wardak province, said the two foreign aid workers were kidnapped in Salar district. It was not immediately clear who was behind the abductions.
"They weren't actually involved in the negotiations, but there was supposed to be an imminent release of a German hostage and five Afghans accompanying him," said Claudia McGoldrick, an International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman, from the group's Geneva headquarters.
"From what we understand, that operation was never completed for reasons that we can't confirm at the moment. We can't confirm if whatever has happened to them is connected to that episode."
She said the aid agency is in "direct contact with all parties to the conflict to determine exactly what has happened." She declined to give further details about the workers' identities "for security reasons."
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