Italian seized in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – A driver had just left a Canadian woman at her home in downtown Kabul when a white Toyota cut him off.

Four men armed with Kalashnikov’s jumped out, bashed in the window and dragged away his remaining passenger, an Italian woman working for CARE International.

The kidnapping Monday reinforced fears that militants or criminals are copying tactics used in Iraq. It follows warnings that foreigners might be targeted in response to the arrest of a suspect in the kidnappings of three U.N. election workers last year.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction of aid worker Clementina Cantoni, 32, or demands for her release, said police and the agency’s director, Paul Barker.

It was the second kidnapping of a CARE worker by suspected militants in recent months and follows a string of warnings to foreigners in Kabul that they could be targeted.