Gunmen Kidnap Eight Pakistani Aid Workers In Baluchistan

Police in Pakistan say gunmen have kidnapped eight Pakistani aid workers after stopping their vehicles in the southwest of the country.

Authorities say the aid workers were distributing food to Afghan refugees when they were seized in the Surkhab area of Baluchistan Province.

The aid workers are all local staff for a U.S. nongovernmental charity known as the American Refugee Committee.

A separatist insurgency has wracked Baluchistan for years and kidnapping for ransom is common there.

On July 17, tribal rebels kidnapped five government officials working for the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation in Baluchistan's Sorange district.

compiled from agency reports