International News

SYDNEY, (APP/AFP): An Australian woman working for a
charity in Afghanistan has been kidnapped, the country’s foreign minister said Friday.
Julie Bishop said Canberra was working to secure the release of
Katherine Jane Wilson, but insisted Australia does not pay ransoms for hostages.
Wilson, who also uses the first name Kerry, was grabbed in the city
of Jalalabad, close to the border with Pakistan, on Thursday, a government official in the area told AFP.
“She visited the city of Jalalabad for a women’s embroidery project,”
said Ataullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital.
“And unknown masked gunmen abducted her from Police District 2 of
Jalalabad city.”
He added that the kidnappers, disguised as police, took her at 4am
from a home in which she was staying.
Nangarhar police chief Zrawer Zahed confirmed the abduction by
“unidentified gunmen” not long after she arrived on Wednesday evening.
Bishop said she had been in contact with Wilson’s family.
“The details of the reports are still being confirmed but the Afghan
authorities certainly believe she has been kidnapped,” she told reporters.
“Our priority is to ensure that she is well, that she’s being treated
well, and so that’s what we’re focusing our efforts upon, working with the local authorities. Our embassy in Kabul of course is deeply involved in this matter.”