Afghan authorities have begun an investigation into the kidnapping of an Italian aid worker seized from a car by gunmen on a street in the capital Kabul.
Clementina Cantoni from Lombardy, who works for the Care International aid agency, was seized last night after the vehicle she was travelling in was intercepted and blocked by another car.
Four gunmen grabbed her from her car, bundled her into a white Toyota car and drove away, security officials said.
The kidnapping has raised fears among Kabul's 2,000-strong foreign community that anti-government insurgents might begin Iraq-style kidnappings.
An Italian embassy official declined to say if the kidnap gang had made any contact or issued any demands.
Three UN workers were kidnapped in Kabul in October and held for 27 days before being released unharmed.
The government said they were grabbed by a gang of criminals who could have been hired by a Taliban splinter faction that threatened to kill them unless Taliban prisoners were freed.