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Add an EventForeign woman seized in Kabul
Officials said the woman, the first foreigner kidnapped in the city in more than two years, works for an international aid organisation.
The incident comes amid efforts to free 19 South Korean aid workers kidnapped by the Taleban in central Afghanistan.
The kidnapping took place at 1300 local time (0830 GMT) at a centrally located restaurant, hidden from the main road.
Rare kidnappings
The interior minister said the woman was taken by armed men, but it is not yet clear who they were, the BBC correspondent in Kabul, Charles Haviland, reports.
The German woman was having lunch when she was kidnapped
Some reports say she was driven away in a blue Toyota car.
The restaurant has been cordoned off and a search is under way, with cars being stopped and searched.
Although there have recently been several bomb attacks in the city, kidnappings are rare, our correspondent says.
The last instances of foreigners being abducted in the city come from 2005 and 2004. In each case they were released after a few weeks.
In addition to the South Korean aid workers, Afghan officials are also trying to secure the release of a German man kidnapped from Wardak province in June.
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At least 15 people in a convoy guarded by a private US security firm have been killed by a car bomb in southern Afghanistan.
As many as 26 people were also wounded in the suicide attack on Saturday, the blast being so strong it tore through several vehicles.
Police say that the attack was carried out in a crowded area west of Kandahar.
Sayed Aqa, a police chief, said: "Fifteen people, four Afghan security guards and 11 civilians, were killed and another 26 including 19 civilians and seven guards were wounded in the suicide blast today."
The convoy, which was guarded by USPI, was travelling to the Zahri district in Helmand province.
The blast destroyed two vehicles belonging to the guards and a civilian minibus.
Jan Mohammad, a police officer, said: "The bomb was so strong that it ripped through the civilian minibus and several other vehicles."
Carnage
Body parts and pieces of metal from the bomber's car were scattered about 100m from the site. The outer wall of a nearby mosque were also partially destroyed.
One witness, who refused to give his name, said: "We saw 12 dead bodies being dragged away
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