A US aid worker was missing Wednesday in war-torn Chechnya after being kidnapped by separatist rebels, the Russian military authorities said.
Kenny Gluck was seized Tuesday after his convoy was ambushed leaving the town of Stariye Atagi, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the capital Grozny, RIA-Novosti quoted Russian army headquarters in the region as saying.
The 38-year-old American was taken hostage along with his three bodyguards after their vehicle came under gunfire from armed men in a Zhiguli car, the agency added.
French aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, "Doctors Without Borders"), which has been working in the region since the latest conflict in Chechnya began in October 1999, confirmed that their employee had been taken hostage.
"The MSF worker was forced out of his car into the attackers' car, which then disappeared.
"MSF is extremely concerned about the fate of their colleague and is outraged by this direct attack on a clearly marked humanitarian convoy that was delivering medical assistance to the Chechen population," the charity said in a statement faxed to AFP from Amsterdam.
The international organization, which was awarded the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize for its work in conflict zones, urged "whoever may be holding" Gluck to "respect his physical and mental integrity" and "to release him unharmed."
A second American who was travelling in another vehicle, part of the same convoy with Gluck, managed to escape from the hostage-takers, RIA-Novosti reported.
MSF said Gluck, its head of mission in the region, was travelling in a four-car convoy organized by MSF and another French non-governmental organization, Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger).
The food relief charity confirmed that one of their expatriate employees and a local staff member had avoided being captured. "They are currently in safe-keeping," it said in a statement faxed from Paris.
A regional MSF administrator, reached by telephone in Nazran, in neighboring Ingushetia, said Gluck had been on a mission to bring humanitarian supplies to the war-devastated republic.
"He has been missing since yesterday. He went in for the day to do some humanitarian relief work," Brian Donaldson said.
Russia's military commander in Chechnya, Ivan Babichev, said Gluck's employers were partly responsible for his current predicament, Interfax reported.
"Part of the blame for this tragedy lies with the international organization itself," the general said.
Contacted by AFP, the US embassy in Moscow said it was "aware of the reports and is looking into the issue right now."
The exact motive for the kidnapping and the identity of its perpetrators were unclear, but Russian military sources suggested that the hostage-taking had been carried out by Chechen rebel warlord Akhmadov.
Kidnapping of journalists, aid workers and other foreigners has been widespread in the breakaway republic since the outbreak of the first Chechen 1994-1996 war.
French photographer Brice Fleutiaux was freed last year after eight months of captivity in Chechnya, having been snatched by Chechen rebels after entering the republic illegally.
Russian troops and tanks poured into Chechnya on October 1, 1999, to crack down on rebels, but Moscow has been unable to wipe out guerrilla activity in the Caucasus republic since retaking the capital Grozny last February.
The decapitated bodies of three Britons and a New Zealand colleague, working in Chechnya on a telecommunications project, were found in 1998, shortly after being abducted by Chechen hostage-takers -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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