"The Australian Embassy in Kabul is making urgent enquiries into reports an Australian has been kidnapped in Kabul," a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra said in an emailed statement on Sunday. "Due to the nature of the incident we will not be commenting further."

Afghan television station Tolo News said on Sunday the Australian woman was abducted at gunpoint in the Qala-i-Fatullah area in the center of the city.

Kidnapping has long been a major problem in Afghanistan, affecting Afghans more often than foreigners, with ransom often the motive.

However, there have been several abductions of foreign aid workers, including at least two Australians this year alone.

Kerry Jane Wilson, who was abducted from the office of a charity in the eastern city of Jalalabad in April, was freed in August. Another Australian, working as a teacher at the American University in Kabul, was kidnapped with an American colleague in August. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Unknown gunmen kidnapped a female Australian employee of a non-governmental organization in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Afghan police said Sunday.

Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi, the Kabul city police chief, said that a Pakistani born- Australian woman was abducted on Saturday night.

Rahimi added that she was with her driver while she was taken away by gunmen. It is not clear what happened to her Afghan driver.

“We have had lots of developments in the abduction case … but right now I can’t share it with the media,” said Rahimi.

Another police official with the Kabul police chief’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said that she is more than 40 years old and works for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief or ACBAR.

In Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement, that the embassy was making “urgent inquiries” into the issue.

The statement added, “We continue to advise Australians not to travel to Afghanistan because of the extremely dangerous security situation, including the serious threat of kidnapping.”

Earlier in April another Australian female aid worker was kidnapped in eastern Nangarhar province; she was released in August after nearly four months in captivity. </s> The woman was seized in Kabul's Qala e Fatullah area area on Saturday evening as she was traveling by car with her driver, said Basir Mujahid, a spokesman for Kabul's police chief.

Police are investigating the abduction, said Mujahid.

He said the woman, who is an Australian citizen of Pakistani origin, works for the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR,) which describes itself as an Afghan independent body bringing together more than 150 national and international NGOs operating in the country.

The Australian Embassy in Kabul is making urgent inquiries into the reported kidnapping, a spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement.

"Due to the nature of the incident we will not be commenting further," the statement said. "We continue to advise Australians not to travel to Afghanistan because of the extremely dangerous security situation, including the serious threat of kidnapping." Both Afghans and foreigners face the risk of abduction in Afghanistan, with two previous cases this year also involving Australians. An Australian aid worker was abducted from her home in Jalalabad in Afghanistan in April, but was freed in August. Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security said Kerry Jane Wilson was released after it conducted a special operation. An American and an Australian were also kidnapped from American University in Kabul in August. A rescue attempt by US Special Operations Forces from SEAL Team 6 failed when they were not found at the location targeted. In June, nearly 200 people were kidnapped by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's northeastern province of Kunduz, police said. The majority were released but the fighters killed several people and kept around 20 hostage. </s> Australian woman reportedly kidnapped in Afghanistan's capital Kabul

Updated

An Australian woman working for a non-governmental organisation in Afghanistan has been reported kidnapped in the capital Kabul on Saturday (local time), officials said.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the embassy in Kabul was making urgent enquiries.

An Afghan television station said on Sunday the woman was abducted at gunpoint in the Qala-i-Fatullah area in the centre of the city.

Kidnapping has long been a major problem in Afghanistan, affecting Afghans more often than foreigners, with ransom often the motive.

However, there have been several abductions of foreign aid workers, including at least two Australians this year alone.

Kerry Jane Wilson, who was abducted from the office of a charity in the eastern city of Jalalabad in April, was freed in August.

Another Australian, working as a teacher at the American University in Kabul, was kidnapped with an American colleague in August.

ABC/Reuters

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime, afghanistan

First posted </s> Australia’s government says it is trying to confirm reports that one of its nationals has been kidnapped in Afghanistan, the latest in a series of reported abductions involving foreign aid workers.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra said on November 6 that the Australian embassy in Kabul was making “urgent enquiries into reports an Australian has been kidnapped in Kabul.” It did not provide further details.

Afghanistan’s Tolo TV reported on November 6 that an Australian woman thought to be working for a nongovernmental aid group was abducted at gunpoint in the Qala-e Fatullah area of central Kabul.

There have been several abductions of foreign aid workers recently, including at least two Australians this year.

Kerry Jane Wilson, who was kidnapped from the office of a charity in the eastern city of Jalalabad in April, was freed in August.

Another Australian, working as a teacher at the American University in Kabul, was kidnapped in August.

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. </s> An American woman who was rescued in October after five years held hostage by a militant group in Afghanistan has reportedly left Canada to return to the US.

Caitlan Coleman returned to her homeland with her three children, who were born while she and her Canadian husband were held in captivity by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, US media reported.

Her husband Joshua Boyle, who is facing allegations of physical and sexual assault stemming from incidents since his return to Canada, did not travel with them, according to ABC News. Mr Boyle, 34, has pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against him.

Ms Coleman is petitioning an Ottawa family court to grant her full legal custody of the children and a judge ruled on Monday that she could leave the country pending an outcome to her case, the broadcaster reported.

The 32-year-old, who is reported to be pregnant, did not comment. </s> Former Taliban hostage Joshua Boyle was charged Monday in Canada with 15 criminal offenses including multiple allegations of assault since he arrived home with his American wife and three children in October following five years of captivity in Pakistan.

Boyle, 34, appeared in a hearing in Ottawa's criminal court on New Year's Day, court records show. He was denied immediate release and his next hearing will be Wednesday, according to a family member.

Boyle’s American wife, Caitlan Coleman Boyle, said in a statement, "I can’t speak about the specific charges, but I can say that ultimately it is the strain and trauma he was forced to endure for so many years and the effects that that had on his mental state that is most culpable for this.

“Obviously, he is responsible for his own actions,” she wrote in the statement, “but it is with compassion and forgiveness that I say I hope help and healing can be found for him. As to the rest of us, myself and the children, we are healthy and holding up as well as we can.”

The 15 charges filed Monday by the Ottawa Police Service include multiple allegations of assault, including physical and sexual assault of a woman, physical assault of a child and unlawful confinement, between October and December and misleading police over the weekend "to divert suspicion from himself."

The Canadian court issued an order prohibiting the publication of information that identifies the alleged victims in Canada. As a general policy, ABC News does not name victims in cases of alleged sexual assault.

Joshua Boyle's defense lawyer, Eric Granger, in a statement to ABC News said his client "is presumed innocent."

"He's never been in trouble before. No evidence has been provided yet, which is typical at this early stage. We look forward to receiving the evidence and defending him against these charges," Granger added.

The longtime Canadian anti-war activist raised in Perth-Andover and his wife of Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, disappeared hiking through eastern Afghanistan in 2012 and were held by the Taliban's Haqqani Network for five years until their sudden release in October, just as American commandos were staging a rescue operation. The circumstances of their release remain unclear.

Caitlan Coleman Boyle, who was six months pregnant at the time of their capture more than five years ago, would give birth to three children in captivity. In an interview with ABC News in November, she said she and her family endured brutal treatment at the hands of their captors, including what the couple alleged was a "forced abortion" and rape by their Haqqani guards.

The newly freed family arrived in Toronto on Oct. 13. The initially stayed with Joshua Boyle's parents in Smiths Falls, Ontario, but they soon moved into a hotel in Ottawa. Recently the Boyles moved into a rented apartment and told ABC News they were eager to make it a home.

Just before Christmas, Joshua Boyle tweeted photos of his family meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Last week, after President Donald Trump listed freeing the hostages as an accomplishment, Joshua Boyle finally offered his appreciation to the American leader, tweeting, "Thank you Mr. President."

Joshua Boyle was known in Canada for his activism even before becoming a hostage of the Haqqani Network. He was previously married to one of Canada's most outspoken pro-jihadi women, Zaynab Khadr, whose two brothers were imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, but were later released.

U.S. intelligence officials long expressed doubts to ABC News about Joshua Boyle's motives in traveling to Afghanistan in 2012. Joshua Boyle told ABC News last month that those doubts were unfounded and referred to his Haqqani captors as "criminal miscreants."

American officials put aside their skepticism of Joshua Boyle in offering the family assistance in leaving Pakistan and since they settled in Ottawa, including offers of psychological counseling to adjust from captivity, they have told ABC News. </s> The officials added that the teen asylum-seeker was identified as a suspect based on traffic video from near the crime scene. (Photo: Representational Image)

Kabul: A teenage Afghan refugee has reportedly been arrested in Germany over alleged rape and murder of a university student.

According to officials, the 17-year-old asylum seeker was taken into custody on suspicion that he raped and killed a 19-year-old university student, reports the Khaama Press.

The officials added that the teen asylum-seeker was identified as a suspect based on traffic video from near the crime scene.

Prosecutor Dieter Inhofer said that DNA evidence has tied the boy to the crime scene. He was living in the area with a family.

According to officials, the victim vanished on her way home from a party on October 16 and her body was found in a river later that day.

This comes as a 22-year-old Afghan man seeking asylum in Germany has allegedly raped a four-year-old Iraqi boy at an asylum center in the town of Boostedt in the northern Schleswig-Holstein state. </s> Canadian man Joshua Boyle, who along with his wife was kidnapped and held captive in the Middle East for five years, is charged with a number of offences including sexual assault and forcible confinement only months after returning home.

A Canadian man abducted and held captive by a terrorist group in the Middle East for five years has been charged with sexual assault only months after being freed and returning home.

Joshua Boyle and his American wife Caitlan Coleman were kidnapped by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network in Afghanistan in 2012 while on a backpacking trip. Their children were born in captivity.

The couple and their children arrived back in Canada after being rescued in Pakistan in October last year.

At the time he said one of his children had been murdered and his spouse was raped after their capture.

Canadian police have laid 15 charges against Mr Boyle, 34, including eight counts of assault, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of forcible confinement and one count of uttering death threats.

A hearing on the case is scheduled for Wednesday (local time) in Ottawa, but Mr Boyle's lawyer Eric Granger said in an email that his client would not attend in person.

"Mr Boyle is presumed innocent," he said.

"He's never been in trouble before. No evidence has been provided yet, which is typical at this early stage.

"We look forward to receiving the evidence and defending him against these charges."

A publication ban bars reporting any information that could identify the alleged victims or witnesses in the case.
An Australian woman has reportedly been kidnapped in Kabul.