Two United Nations workers were attacked by gunmen in south-west Pakistan on Monday February 2nd. The two men were ambushed and kidnapped by armed men while driving to the UNHCR’s head office in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province.

The driver Sayid Hashim was immediately shot and his passenger, John Solecki, is believed to have been abducted. John Solecki is the American head of the UN High Commission for Refugees office in Quetta, having held the post for two years.

The Embassy of France in Islamabad has condemned the attacks and has called for the immediate release of John Solecki. Both of the workers were undertaking humanitarian work for the UNHCR dealing with refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan.

The UN High Commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres has commented that the UNHCR’s mission “is aimed solely at easing the plight of refugees, displaced people and innocent civilians in a totally impartial and humanitarian manner”. The Pakistani government called the attack a “dastardly terrorist act”.

The UNHCR currently operates in over 110 countries, and has been present in Baluchistan and the North West Frontier in Pakistan since the 1980s. It is currently dealing with the three million refugees who have fled from war-torn Afghanistan.

No organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack, and it is unclear as to whether the perpetuators were Islamist militants, Baluch nationalists or a criminal gang. The attack occurred as part of a general escalation of violence in the region. On the same day, a suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed 21 policemen.