An Afghan policeman searches a passenger in the city of Jalalabad, close to the border with Pakistan, on April 29, 2016, after reports that an aid worker from Perth has been kidnapped by armed men in Jalalabad. -AFP

SYDNEY: An Australian woman working for a charity in Afghanistan has been kidnapped, the country’s foreign minister said Friday.

Julie Bishop said Canberra was working to secure the release of Katherine Jane Wilson, but insisted Australia does not pay ransoms for hostages.

Wilson, who also uses the first name Kerry, was grabbed in the city of Jalalabad, close to the border with Pakistan, on Thursday, a government official in the area told AFP.

“She visited the city of Jalalabad for a women’s embroidery project,” said Ataullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital.

“And unknown masked gunmen abducted her from Police District 2 of Jalalabad city.”

He added that the kidnappers, disguised as police, took her at 4am from a home in which she was staying.

Nangarhar police chief Zrawer Zahed confirmed the abduction by “unidentified gunmen” not long after she arrived on Wednesday evening.

Bishop said she had been in contact with Wilson’s family.

Source: Australian aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan – World – DAWN.COM