KABUL (Reuters) - Three foreigners helping to organize Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s presidential election were kidnapped by a gang of armed men in the capital on Thursday, prompting a huge manhunt by Afghan authorities and international peacekeepers.
Government sources and election officials said the three -- from Britain, Philippines and Kosovo -- were snatched from a U.N. car by seven men near Karteh Parwan, a relatively posh area of the city close to the Intercontinental Hotel.
Although the chief suspects were immediately the Taliban that a U.S.-led coalition helped overthrow in November 2001, a spokesman for the hardline Islamic group said he had no immediate knowledge of the incident.
But Mullah Ishaq Manzoor, commander of a breakaway Taliban faction known as the Jaish-e-Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), claimed his forces had carried out the abduction.
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