An Italian woman aid worker was kidnapped in the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul, security and United Nations officials said on Tuesday.
A senior official at the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome identified the woman as Clementina Cantoni from Lombardy. She works for the CARE International aid agency, officials in Kabul said.
Cantoni was seized near a park at about 8.30 pm after the vehicle she was travelling in was blocked by another car, Italy's ANSA news agency said, citing the Italian ambassador in Kabul, Ettore Sequi.
"We don't know who kidnapped her or why," said an Afghan security official, who declined to be identified.
Three UN workers were kidnapped in Kabul in October and held for 27 days before being released unharmed.
The abductions shocked the 2,000-strong foreign community in Kabul and raised fears of a wave of Iraq-style kidnappings.
Cantoni was travelling with two other people when their vehicle was intercepted and stopped but the others managed to escape, ANSA said.
An Italian embassy official said the mission was in contact with the relevant authorities. He declined to give details.
The district in Kabul where Cantoni was kidnapped has several guest houses and restaurants that are popular with foreigners. A bomb attack in an Internet cafe in the area on May 8 killed three people, including a UN worker from Myanmar.
Aid agencies have issued warnings to staff to keep a low profile in recent weeks following two unsuccessful attempts to kidnap foreigners.
In April, an American man was bundled into the boot of a car but managed to force it open and jump out. In another incident, a car carrying foreigners was intercepted by gunmen but the driver reversed away and escaped.
A British adviser to the government was shot dead near a UN guest house in March.
The Afghan government said October's kidnapping was carried out by a gang of criminals who could have been hired by a Taliban splinter faction that threatened to kill the three unless some Taliban prisoners were freed.
Taliban guerrillas have attacked and killed dozens of aid and election workers since launching an insurgency after they were forced from power by US-led forces in 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden.
But most of their attacks have been in the countryside, particularly in the south and east.
