Two Italian military personnel on a weekend patrol went missing in western Afghanistan, and police Sunday said they were searching for the pair and their two Afghan staff, according to AP. The Italian Defense Ministry said that the two Italians had made no contact for several hours, that their families had been notified, and that an investigation was under way. An official from the Italian embassy in Kabul said the two last spoke with officials at their base on Saturday night during «routine contact.» The Italian military in Herat was trying to contact the missing personnel again. The two Italians, with their Afghan driver and translator, drove through a police checkpoint in the Shindand district of Herat province on Saturday, and they have not had any contact with anyone since, said Gen. Ali Khan Hassanzada, chief of police criminal investigations in western Afghanistan. Hassanzada said it was not yet known if the four had been kidnapped. «We can say they are missing in the Shindand district of Herat province since yesterday,» Hassanzada said. «We have launched an investigation in the area.»
