JALALABAD: Gunmen dragged the father of Afghanistan’s cricket team captain from his car on the outskirts of Jalalabad city and took him hostage, officials said yesterday.
Mohammad Nabi, who took over the captaincy of the team in March, confirmed that his father, Khobai Isakhel, had been kidnapped in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Tuesday. “I have no idea who the kidnappers might be, they have not contacted me,” he said, declining to give details.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial government, said: “Yesterday at around 10am, unknown armed man seized him from his car. No trace of him has yet been found.”
All-rounder Nabi, 28, took up the game while living in a refugee camp in Pakistan and became captain before the Intercontinental Cup in the UAE.
Cricket has become one of the most popular sports in Afghanistan since it was introduced by refugees returning after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
AFP
