QUETTA: Gunmen kidnapped a foreign doctor working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Quetta on Thursday, police officials said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but criminal gangs have often targeted foreign aid workers in the hope of securing large ransoms for their release.

The doctor was travelling to the Red Cross office when he was stopped by gunmen who forced him into their vehicle and drove away, police sources said.

An ICRC official confirmed that one of their employees, a foreign national, was kidnapped in Quetta.

“We are checking all routes out of the districts, but we have not been able to trace that vehicle. We are trying to ensure that the vehicle does not leave Quetta,” Nazeer Kurd, a senior city police official, told reporters.

Four health workers, including two doctors, were kidnapped by militants last week from the Pishin area of Balochistan, near Quetta. They were freed after a shootout between police and their kidnappers.

The Pakistani Taliban said on Thursday they had killed 15 soldiers kidnapped last month in revenge for military operations against them.