QUETTA, Feb 8: Police said on Sunday to have found a clue to the kidnapping of a UN official after the Baloch Liberation United Front had claimed responsibility for it.

“We got a clue about the kidnapping of John Solecki, UN refugee agency’s representative in Quetta, after a previously unknown Baloch separatist group claimed responsibility,” Inspector General of Balochistan Police Asif Nawaz Waraaich told Dawn.

He said that investigating agencies were earlier working on different lines, but now they had got a direction.

He said that it had been established that Mr Solecki was alive and the kidnappers would not harm him because they have come up with demands. “The kidnappers wanted to internationalise their cause.”

“I am very hopeful about freeing the UNHCR official,” Mr Waraaich said.

Mr Solecki was kidnapped and his driver Syed Hashim was killed when gunmen ambushed his vehicle on Feb 2.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR said in a statement that the United Nations remained deeply concerned about Mr Solecki.

“The UNHCR is particularly concerned about Mr Solecki’s health as he has a medical condition requiring regular medication,” the statement said, adding a delay in his release would only “contribute to the deterioration of his physical state”.

Mr Solecki’s “family, colleagues and many friends in the region appeal for his immediate release without harm,” it said.