Afghan Taliban kidnaps 50 mine clearance agency workers

The Afghan Taliban kidnapped nearly 50 local employees of a mine clearance agency in the country's western province of Herat on Tuesday morning, sources said.

"Militants approached a mine clearance site Tuesday morning while the workers were getting ready to start their daily operation," a provincial source told Xinhua anonymously.

The incident occurred at around 08:00 (local time) in Marwa area of Pashtun Zarghun district, southeast of the provincial capital Herat city, 640 km west of the national capital Kabul.

Some locals said that at least 10 Taliban members arrived in two cars and forced the workers to get in the vehicles which were the agencies property and took them away.

The security forces have launched a massive search operation following the incident, the source said, adding details about the attack will be released later in the day.

Loclas also said the workers were staff of Halo Trust, a non- Governmental organization.

The Taliban insurgent group has intensified attacks recently as the Afghan army and police took the full operational lead from foreign troops in June last year.

The war-torn country is due to take over the responsibility for its own security from foreign troops by the end of the year.

More than 57,000-strong NATO-led foreign troops, down from the peak of 130,000 in 2010, are currently being deployed in Afghanistan.