KABUL, Dec 14: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a Turkish engineer in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a government official said. "I confirm that one Turkish engineer has been kidnapped in Kunar province today," said Gen Abdul Jalil Junbish , Director of the counter-terrorism office.

"Our police have already been searching for him. We are trying to locate him by any means," he said. Authorities did not give details about the identity and age of the engineer or which project he had been working on. They said they did not know which militant group was behind the kidnapping.

"We are trying to confirm this information with the Afghan government," Kamal Dodan, secretary for the Turkish ambassador in Afghanistan, told AFP by telephone.

Last month three employees of the United Nations were released after being held for about a month by militants. -AFP