KABUL, Nov 20: An Indian engineer was kidnapped with two Afghan police guards and a driver in southwest Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday, as Taliban militants claimed they had snatched the men and threatened to kill the Indian if his firm did not leave the country.

The four were captured on Saturday while driving in volatile Nimroz province, a district chief in neighbouring Farah province said.

“They were kidnapped by unknown people. We have launched a search operation to find them,” said Khash Road district chief Mohammed Hashim Noorzai.

“They were driving on an unsafe road, which they shouldn’t have. They did not take the normal road.”

The Indian national had been working on a road construction project in Nimroz that was funded by the Indian government, Noorzai said.

The interior ministry said the four were kidnapped in Nimroz’s Poshta-i-Hassan area by unknown men.

“A search operation and investigations have been launched by police,” ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said that members of the group had kidnapped the engineer and three guards in Khash Road district.

He threatened to kill the Indian if his firm did not leave Afghanistan.

“If the Indian construction company for which the Indian engineer works does not leave Afghanistan in course of 48 hours, we will kill him.

Indian sources in Afghanistan said the engineer had worked for the Indian government’s Border Roads Organisation.—AFP