20 passengers abducted by Taliban in western Afghanistan

Twenty bus passengers were abducted by militants in Afghanistan's western Farah province, an official said Saturday.

Jamila Amini, a provincial council member from Farah, told dpa that the Taliban stopped a passenger bus along the highway connecting Kabul with the western city of Herat and took 20 people with them.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Amini added that three or four of the bus passengers may have been former police officers or government employees.

She said tribal elders, local government authorities and provincial council members are working to secure the release of the passengers.

Last month, Taliban shot and killed five people after they were taken out of a passenger vehicle in central Ghazni province.

Taliban militants have been setting up illegal checkpoints across the country, stopping and searching buses and private vehicles for government workers, members of the security forces and people employed with international organizations.

Hundreds of travellers have been kidnapped and dozens killed over the past two years, a tactic aimed at intimidating the Afghan government and its allies.