Despite four days of hectic efforts, the Afghan authorities are far away from detecting the three foreign abductees while the United Nations appeals for their safety.

"We call on those holding them not to harm them. We worry about them and we call for their immediate release," Manoel de Almeida eSilva of UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said Sunday.

Armed men of little-known Islamic group Jaishul Muslimen or Soldiers of Islam kidnapped the trio, including two European women and a Filipino diplomat working for the UN-sponsored Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) last Thursday.

The group, apparently a stalwart of the former Taliban regime, has linked the release of the hostages to the release of Taliban operatives, held at the US detention center in the Guantanamo Bay.

The group also threatened to harm the hostages if the security forces push for their release, emphasizing it would not set them free until their demand met.

Afghan law enforcing agencies, in conjunction with the NATO-led multinational force and US-dominated coalition troops in their hunt down operation to locate the abductees, have arrested seven suspects.

The UN official has ruled out the possibility of reducing the world body's strength in war-plagued Afghanistan.

"All the operations would continue and there is no reduction of staff in the country. The responsibility for our security in the country belongs to the Afghan authority," Silva noted.

(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2004)