Search on for kidnapped election worker and colleagues

Roadblocks were set around the Afghanistan capital of Kabul today to search for a Northern Irish UN worker who was kidnapped with two colleagues.

Nato troops and Afghan forces were involved in the hunt to find Annetta Flanigan, who was seized at gunpoint sparking fears of Iraq-style atrocities.

Election monitor Mrs Flanigan, who has dual Irish and British nationality, had been planning to return home to Richhill, Co Armagh, with her husband for Christmas.

US military chiefs said its soldiers were ready to help “locate and if need be to rescue these individuals when they are found”.

A man claiming to speak for a Taliban splinter group, Jamiat Jaish-al Muslimeen, said it was responsible for the kidnappings.

Westerners have been kidnapped by Taliban rebels in the past, and earlier this month the US embassy issued a warning that abductions might be attempted surrounding the country’s October 9 presidential vote.

About five gunmen in military uniforms stopped their vehicle yesterday morning, beating the driver and abducting the three workers, officials said.

The head of Kabul police’s criminal department, Abdul Jamil, said the three were driven away in a dark-coloured four-wheel drive vehicle in the direction of Paghman, a district in the west of Kabul province renowned for banditry.

Afghan and Nato forces mounted roadblocks inside and outside Kabul, while Nato helicopters searched for clues from the sky.

Ms Flanigan's colleagues who were also kidnapped are both believed to be women and are reported to be from the Balkans region and the Philippines.

The three were part of a UN team assisting with Afghanistan‘s presidential elections.

Ms Flanigan was providing technical assistance for parliamentary elections due to be held next April.

The UN has now restricted some movements of personnel in the wake of the kidnappings.

The organisation has several hundred international staff in the country, and UN spokesman Farhan Haq said: “We have restricted some movements of staff in reflection of this … just temporarily.

“They will review the situation. Staff have been moving in Kabul, but things like road travel – there are advisories about staff travel – but we try not to give too many specifics about that, given the security situation on the ground.”

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said there was nothing to suggest the kidnapping was the beginning of a trend.

“I have no reason to believe it will be anything other than unusual for the future,” he said.

Mr Straw said the British Foreign Office was in touch with Ms Flanigan's family.

Afghanistan remains a largely lawless country in the grip of warlord militias, despite the presence of thousands of American troops and other foreign soldiers under Nato command.

About 1,000 people have died in political violence so far this year, including more than 30 American soldiers.

A string of bombings and shootings blamed on militants killed at least a dozen election workers in the run-up to the presidential vote.

Election day passed relatively peacefully, but optimism that the militants were a fading force was dampened on Saturday when a suicide attacker armed with grenades killed an American woman and an Afghan teenager and injured three Nato soldiers in a Kabul shopping street.

Several foreign construction workers have been kidnapped along the Kabul-Kandahar highway, which is being rebuilt with mainly US funds.

One Turkish engineer was shot dead in a shoot-out between kidnappers and security guards in March. Others abducted, including Turks and Indians, were later released unharmed.