The kidnappers bundled the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) workers and their driver into a vehicle in Sheikh Badin, a town in militancy-hit Dera Ismail Khan district, local police chief Akbar Nasir said.

"They were technicians from the PAEC, they were whisked away early Monday morning," Nasir told AFP.

The officials were on a routine visit to conduct a geological survey for mineral exploration in the mountainous area, which adjoins Pakistan's lawless tribal regions, the police chief said.

"We don't know if the abductors were militants or members of some criminal gang," he said, adding that they were believed to be from the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

"A search is underway, we are contacting local people... We are all trying but so far we have no clues," he said.

The abduction of the PAEC officials came on the same day as the disappearance of Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan on his way from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday.

The envoy, Tariq Azizuddin, was feared abducted in the tribal district of Khyber, raising concern about growing insecurity ahead of parliamentary polls set for Monday.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.