QUETTA: The head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees sub-office at Quetta, John Solecki, was abducted and his driver killed in Quetta on Monday.

The chief minister directed the law enforcement agencies to utilize all resources to recovery foreign employee and arrest the culprits, while the UN issued a strong condemnation of the abduction and killing of its employee.
               
Solecki, an American national, had been traveling unescorted to his office in a UNHCR land cruiser from his nearby residence in Chaman housing society suburb of the city on Monday morning. En route, unknown gunmen in a white Toyota car intercepted his vehicle and opened fire, injuring the driver Syed Hashim Hazara and causing the vehicle to ram into a wall. The abductors removed Solecki from the vehicle and transported him to an unknown destination.
               
The driver was shifted to combined military hospital (CMH) where he succumbed to his injuries. He was later was buried in Hazara graveyard.
                 
According to police officials, Solecki was serving in the UNHCR Quetta sub-office for last two years but never requested for an escort for travel between his residence and office. However, a security detail, including police officers, was deployed at both his office and residence.
                    
Police officials conceded that they so far had no clue as to the identity of the kidnappers, nor had any group claimed responsibility for abduction the abduction. But they added that security forces had been put on full alert and strict security arrangements had been made at all entry and exit points of the provincial capital.
               
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani chaired a high level meeting of the home department and police officials and was briefed on the situation in wake of the kidnapping incident.
               
Nawab Raisani directed the security forces officials to provide full security to all those foreign employees working for UN agencies and NGOs and stated that the government would never allow the miscreants to take the law into their hands.

Reuters adds:

Security had been stepped up at the main crossing point into Afghanistan at Chaman, 100 km northwest of Quetta, and at other points along the border to stop the kidnappers from taking their hostage into Afghanistan, a police official said

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry condemned what it called a ‘dastardly terrorist act’ and said all measures were being taken for Solecki's safe recovery.

UN condemns attack

The United Nations has strongly condemned abduction and killing of its officials in Quetta, Pakistan.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, speaking from an African Union summit in, said he was ‘deeply distressed’ by the attack on two UN officials.

The UN Information Centre in Centre released a statement on the incident: ‘The United Nations in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan hereby conveys the extreme shock and dismay felt by the whole UN community at the death of Mr. Syed Hashim, driver of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the abduction of Mr. John Solecki, Head of the UNHCR Office in Quetta,’ said a statement issued by the UN Information Centre in Islamabad.

‘We strongly condemn this attack on humanitarian workers in Pakistan who have been doing their utmost to deliver their humanitarian mission,’ the statement said.

The office said the families of both staff members had been contacted to convey deepest sympathy on the part of the world body to the family of Syed Hashim and to express its concern and solidarity with Mr. Solecki’s family.

The United Nations is now taking all possible measures to secure his release, the UNHCR Antonio Guterres said.