UN Staff Members Killed, Abducted in Kabul

A UN staff member was killed and another one abducted earlier on Monday in Kabul, security officials said.

The incident took place at around 6:00 am in police district 17th of Kabul City.

“A woman who is believed to be a UN staff member has been abducted with her child and her driver has gone missing who might be the abductor,” said Basir Mujahid, the spokesman of Kabul Police Chief.

Mujahid noted that the other UN staff member who attempted to prevent the hostage-taking was killed by the abductors.

“A woman who works at UN was abducted in the morning and her driver has also gone missing, but the abductors have not been identified so far,” said Shir Muhammad, an inhabitant of the 17th police district.

Kabul Police refused to share the identities of the killed and abducted UN staff members with the media outlets.

“Police found a car parked around 300-kilometers away of the site and a purse belonging to a female inside the car,” said Ahmad Elham, another inhabitant of the area.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the incident so far.

The United Nations office in Kabul has not commented regarding the incident so far, but Kabul Police emphasized to start an investigation in coordination with the UN office.

Previously, the UN office voiced deep concern over the security of its staff and called Afghanistan one of the dangerous places for UN.

“Unfortunately Afghanistan has proven to be a dangerous country for none governmental organizations.  We have lost our staffs including 2017. We demand all the parties that please respect the humanitarian institutions and agencies,” said Toby Lanzer, the UN Deputy of Special Representative for Afghanistan.

A total of 28 United Nations personnel lost their lives in 2016 and the first half of 2017, owing to acts of violence and safety-related incidents. 

The United Nations has a mission in Afghanistan with staff at a number of compounds across the country.