LANDI KOTAL, Feb 11: Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin was kidnapped along with his bodyguard and driver in Khyber tribal region’s Jamrud sub-district on Monday.

“He is missing and we believe that he has been kidnapped,” a security official said. A political administration official in Jamrud confirmed the incident, but said that the administration had no prior information about his visit.

“We had no prior information of his travel. The ambassador would never inform us whenever he travelled to or from Afghanistan,” deputy administrator of Landi Kotal Ahmad Khan Orakzai told Dawn.

“He would never tell us whenever he had a travel plan,” Mr Orakzai said. “We came to know about the incident from the ambassador’s staff waiting for his arrival at the Torkham border post.”

He said the administration had arranged escorts for some delegations visiting or passing through the tribal regions as part of the standard procedure and the same could have been done for the ambassador had they been informed beforehand.

The security official said the ambassador, his bodyguard and the driver were apparently kidnapped near the Ali Masjid area in Jamrud at around 11am.

The tribal authorities came to know about the incident when Mr Azizuddin’s staff waiting for him on the other side of the Pakistan-Afghan border relayed a message, asking if the ambassador was coming.

The officials said the ambassador would usually avoid taking an escort provided by the tribal administration.

Two Pakistani employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross were kidnapped by gunmen from the same area on February 2.

The ICRC officials were going to the border town of Torkham for customs clearance of their goods.

The Peshawar-Torkham Highway serves as the main trade route with Afghanistan and remains busy throughout the day.

It is also one of the most well-protected roads and the Khasadars are posted about every hundred metres. It also passes through the famous Khyber Pass that also houses the Shagai Fort, home to the Khyber Rifles of the Frontier Corps.

The route is frequently used by the United States and Nato to provide supplies to their forces in Afghanistan.

There is no known militant group operating in the area. A group led by Mangal Bagh, who is claiming to carry out a mission of weeding out ‘social vices’ from the area has no affiliation with Jihadi outfits.

Officials said they had blocked the highway, set up checkposts and started searching for the ambassador. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and the ambassador’s cellphone was not responding.

AFP adds: “He has gone missing, we are confirming he is missing but at this stage I cannot give you any more details,” Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said.

The Pakistan embassy in Kabul said it last had contact with the ambassador at around 11:30 am and was trying to find out what had happened.

“We know that he was coming from Peshawar to Kabul and we lost contact with him. We are trying our best to find out what happened,” spokesman Naheem Khan said.