2 Brac officials abducted in Afghanistan

Unidentified criminals abducted two Bangladeshi Brac officials in Kunduz of war-torn Afghanistan on Thursday.

They are engineer Shawkat Ali, 50, and accountant Sirajul Islam Sumon, 37, of Pabna.

Some gunmen kidnapped three Brac officials, including an Afghan national, while they were going to Baghlan from Kunduz around 4:00pm local time, reports UNB, quoting Brac Senior Media Manager Mahbubul Alam Kabir as saying.

He said the criminals released the Afghan citizen later.

No militant group has yet to claim responsibility for the abduction.

The families of the two Bangladeshis were passing anxious moments and called upon the Bangladesh government to take steps for the quick release of the two abductees, adds our Pabna correspondent.

Lota Khatun, wife of Sirajul who hails from Dubulia village in Pabna Sadar upazila, said her husband and Shawkat Ali, of Hangragari in Faridpur upazila, were picked up when they were on their way to a project site in Afghanistan.

She talked to Sirajul over the phone for the last time on Thursday afternoon.

“I don't know what will happen to him but I want my husband back at any cost,” said a worried Lota.

Brac has been working in Afghanistan since 2002. Setting up around 400 offices in the country's 34 provinces, the NGO is providing education, healthcare, training, and development tools to the citizens of the war-hit country.