Ten Iranian engineers were abducted in Afghanistan

Kabul: Twelve Iranian engineers and five of their Afghan colleagues were abducted by armed men Taliban Monday in a region remote from the Afghanistan near its border with the Iran, local officials and the Iranian Government said.

Men working on a road construction project, were snatched at the gun, in the province of Farah Post-i road district, which borders the Iran, the spokesman for the provincial government Naqibullah Farahi told AFP.

Tehran confirmed the kidnapping of 12 Iranians, while the Afghan provincial authorities had said earlier that the number was 10.

"We are closely following the issue," said Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, quoted by the State of the Web site of the Iran diffuser.

Afghan in Tehran Embassy press "Kabul authorities to exercise their responsibilities for Iranian nationals and to take firm measures and swift on this abduction", he added. (AFP)