February 12, 2008
Good News! Pakistani Nuke Workers Go Missing
Could be worse, they're described as "technicians" and not as "scientists" which I'm guessing means they don't have the background to help their Taliban captors develop their own nuclear capability. In fact, it sounds like if they have a scientific background at all it's as geologists. So, unless the Taliban are planning to begin their nuclear program by mining low-grade uranium, we're in no imminent danger.
The bad news is that it happened the same day that Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan was kidnapped on Pakistani soil. Which suggests the lawlessness of Pakistan's "tribal regions" are worse than even the Pakis were aware of. And although the Taliban seem to be increasingly factionalized along tribal lines, they're still the Taliban.
BBC:
Two employees of Pakistan's atomic energy agency have been abducted in the country's restive north-western region abutting the Afghan border, police say.Thanks to Dan.The technicians went missing on the same day as Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, was reportedly abducted in the same region. ...
The workers from Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission were on a mission to map mineral deposits in the mountains when they were kidnapped, police say.
"The technicians were going for some geological survey in the area when they were kidnapped at gunpoint along with their driver," Romail Akram, a senior police official, told Reuters news agency.
Their vehicle was intercepted by masked gunmen in the Dera Ismail Khan district, a stronghold of local militants.
