UNHCR says no confirmation of reports of official's death
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Feb 23, IRNA - The UN refugee agency Monday said it has no conformation of local TV channels reports that its abducted official has been killed in southwestern Pakistan.
John Solecki, head of the UNHCR office in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, was abducted at gun point on Feb 2 while traveling to work. His driver was killed in the ambush.
The new group Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF), which claims to be holding Solecki, has demanded the release of 141 female Baloch detainees they say are in security forces' custody.
The group had earlier set a deadline of 72 hours but later extended it for several days.
TV channels reported that an unidentified man called Quetta Press Club and claimed that Solecki had been killed and that his body would be thrown out after two hours.
"We do not have any confirmation. It may be a hoax call," UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told IRNA.
Last week, the captors released a mobile video of Solecki, who appealed the UN to take steps for his release as he said he was sick and in trouble.
Rose Solecki, the mother of Solecki in an audio message on Saturday urged the public to help secure his release.
The group has also demanded information about 6,000 men "missing" in operations to put down an insurgency in the restive Balochistan province.
Kidnappings of foreigners have increased in Pakistan in recent months, particularly in the northwest, where the Taliban are fighting the security forces.
Afghan ambassador-designate Abdul Kahliq Farahi and Iranian commercial attache Heshmatollah Attarzadeh Niyaki are among foreigners kidnapped late last year.
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