An Islamist group that claims responsibility for kidnapping three UN workers in Afghanistan said today it would execute the hostages unless authorities called off their massive manhunt for the kidnappers.
The abduction yesterday of the workers, including one Irishwoman, has sparked fears that anti-American militants in the country may be copying bloody tactics used by insurgents in Iraq.
Nato troops and Afghan forces were today searching for Ms Annetta Flanigan, from Co Armagh, who was seized at gunpoint yesterday, and her two colleagues.
Ms Flanigan along with a woman from Kosovo and a Filipino diplomat, had been helping organise Afghanistan's first direct presidential election on October 9th.
"We demand the search is stopped," said Akbar Agha, of the Jaish-e-Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), a breakaway Taliban faction. "If the US and Afghan forces find our Mujahideen (holy warriors) during operations, we will kill them," he told Reuters news agency.
The authorities said three people had been detained in connection with the kidnapping and a vehicle believed to have been used to snatch the trio found.
The suspects, wearing military uniforms, were picked up north of Kabul in the same area where authorities seized a pickup truck with defence ministry number plates that fit descriptions of the vehicle used in yesterday's kidnapping.
About five gunmen in military uniforms stopped the UN vehicle yesterday morning, beating the driver and abducting the three workers, officials said. The head of Kabul police's criminal department said the three were driven away in the direction of Paghman, a district in the west of Kabul province renowned for banditry.
Election monitor Mrs Flanigan, who has dual British and Irish nationality, had been planning to return home to Richhill, Co Armagh, with her husband for Christmas.
The UN has now restricted some movements of personnel in the wake of the kidnappings.
Westerners have been kidnapped by Taliban rebels in the past, and earlier this month the US embassy issued a warning that abductions might be attempted surrounding the country's October 9th presidential vote.