KOHAT, Dec 2: Four UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) workers were kidnapped in the Hangu district on Saturday morning, but were released five hours after the incident. However, their vehicle was not returned, officials said.Sources said the UNHCR employees were freed after the political administration of the Orakzai Agency intervened in the matter.

The officials informed the UNHCR authorities at 5pm that the staffers had been released and they were on their way to Hangu. The kidnappers, however, refused to return the vehicle, they said.

The UNHCR staffers had gone to the area in connection with the registration of Afghan refugees at the Kahi camp. Their vehicle went missing around 11am in a remote part of Hangu.

The staffers were identified as Faraz Anwar, a data registration operator at the National Database and Registration Authority; Nawab Khan and Rauf Khan, Afgahn refugees hired as felicitators; and driver Sajid.

A security official while confirming the incident earlier said: “It can be kidnapping for ransom or an act of the Taliban who have teamed up with criminal gangs in the Spin Thall area.”

The area is infested with gangs of kidnappers who are harbouring at least hundreds of Taliban.