Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped four government employees, including a woman, in northwestern Pakistan, police and local officials said on October 26.
The four were kidnapped while inspecting a dam project on October 25, local police officer Sher Akbar told RFE/RL.
The four people were on a monitoring team from the Forest Department that was visiting the Mohmand Khel Baran Dam site in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Akbar said, adding that a search operation was under way in the area.
A senior officer of the Forest Department, who wished not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to media, told Radio Mashaal that the kidnapped employees included a female officer named Shaista.
The area where the kidnapping occurred borders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's North Waziristan tribal district, where armed men abducted six people in February, including two government health officials. The group was released earlier this month after eight months in captivity.