NGO employees reported kidnapped in Mali

Bamako, Oct 15 (IANS/EFE) Several employees of the Handicap International NGO have been kidnapped in Dar Salam, a small town in northern Mali near Timbuktu, police and diplomatic sources in Bamako told Spanish news agency Efe.

It was not immediately known whether there were foreigners among the hostages, although it is unlikely because most NGO workers on the ground in the troubled northeastern area are Malians.

The employees, who were travelling in two vehicles, were reported missing late Monday and so far no organisation has claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Gunmen last Sunday stopped a vehicle of the UN mission in Mali (Minusma) carrying an Indian mechanic and a Malian driver in the same area and held them for several hours before releasing them.

In February, members of the Monotheism and Jihad in West Africa Islamist group kidnapped five local employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the same area, who were also released later.

The Azawad Strip in northeastern Mali is the operating ground not only of Islamists but also of criminal gangs who sometimes sell their hostages to allied extremist groups.

--IANS/EFE

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