KABUL: An Afghan election commission official says four election coordinators were kidnapped in Afghanistan's restive Nangarhar province, which borders neighboring Pakistan.

Sareer Ahmed Barmal, a commissioner with the Independent Election Commission, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the four men were taken a day earlier and no one has taken responsibility for their abduction or demanded a ransom.

Barmal says area elders have been meeting in an attempt to discover the identities of the kidnappers in order to negotiate the release of the men.

On Monday, the Taliban threatened violence ahead of Afghanistan's April 5 presidential elections, warning Afghans to stay away from the polls and promising attacks against election workers and Afghan security forces protecting them.