KABUL: Two foreign doctors and three of their Afghan colleagues were kidnapped in a remote area in northeast Afghanistan, officials said.

Abdul Maroof Rasikh, the spokesman for the governor of Badakhshan province, said on Wednesday that it's unclear who kidnapped the five.

He said the kidnapping occurred Tuesday as the group was traveling on horseback between Yaftal and Ragh districts about 90 kilometres from the provincial capital of Faizabad.

He said the five were employed by a non-profit humanitarian organisation, which reported the kidnapping.

Neither the name of the organisation or the identities of the five who were abducted have been released.

A police official and the deputy governor also confirmed the kidnapping.