British Red Cross doctor kidnapped in Pakistan

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but criminal gangs have often targeted foreign aid workers in the hope of securing large ransoms for their release.

"Health program manager Khalil Rasjed Dale, a British national, was on his way home from work in a clearly marked ICRC vehicle when he was seized some 200 metres away from an ICRC residence," the ICRC said in a statement.

"The ICRC currently has no indication as to the abductors' identities or motives... Despite the incident, the ICRC will be continuing its humanitarian work in Pakistan."

Quetta is capital of southwestern Baluchistan, Pakistan's biggest but poorest province, where Baluch separatist militants are fighting a protracted insurgency for more autonomy and control over the area's natural resources.

Pro-Taliban militants are also active in the province, which shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

Four health workers, including two doctors, were kidnapped by militants last week from the Pishin area of Baluchistan, near Quetta. They were freed after a shootout between police and their kidnappers.

The Pakistani Taliban said Thursday they had killed 15 soldiers kidnapped last month in revenge for military operations against them.

Officials confirmed that 15 bodies, with signs of torture and gunshot wounds, had been found in the Thal area of the northwestern Hangu district, near the unruly northwestern tribal areas along the porous border with Afghanistan.

(Reporting by Gul Yusufzai in QUETTA; Writing by Qasim Nauman; Editing by Nick Macfie)