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Pakistan urged to rescue missing Chinese engineers

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-03 09:42

BEIJING - China on Tuesday urged Pakistan to rescue two Chinese engineers who went missing near the Afghan border, after Taliban militants claimed responsibility for kidnapping them.

"We have requested that Pakistan rescue the two missing staff and ensure their safety," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

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"The Chinese government attaches great importance to this."

Pakistani Taliban militants said Tuesday they had kidnapped the two Chinese telecoms engineers and their entourage and would soon issue a list of demands.

"Our men have kidnapped the two Chinese engineers and they are currently in our custody," Muslim Khan, a spokesman for militants from the northwestern Swat valley, said. 

The engineers went missing along with their local driver and a security guard on Friday in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border where they had been checking an installation, Chinese and Pakistani authorities said earlier.

Jiang refused to comment on the Taliban's claims of responsibility.

Police sent three investigation teams to the rugged area to try and trace the engineers, employed by Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment.

Islamic militants have been known in the past to target Chinese workers in Pakistan.

In October 2004, Islamic militants led by a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner, Abdullah Mehsud, kidnapped two Chinese engineers working on a multi-million dollar hydroelectric dam project in the South Waziristan tribal area.

One of the hostages died in a botched rescue bid.