British boy kidnapped in Pakistan

The incident happened in the town of Jhelum about 100 kilometres south of the capital Islamabad at the end of a family holiday.

ISLAMABAD, March 4, 2010 (AFP) - Robbers kidnapped a five-year-old British boy in Pakistan on Thursday as he was about to return home, holding his family at gunpoint and stealing cash and jewellery from their home, officials said.

The incident happened in the town of Jhelum about 100 kilometres (65 miles) south of the capital Islamabad at the end of a family holiday spent visiting his grandmother with his Pakistani father.

Police blamed a kidnapping gang for the abduction and said they had launched a full-scale investigation to recover the child without harm.

"The family arrived from Britain three weeks ago and arranged their departure with the same driver today," regional police chief Aslam Tareen told Pakistan's main private TV channel Geo.

"When the taxi came to pick them up for the airport, four to five people barged into their house, looted cash and jewellery and also took their child with them," he said.

The attackers probably knew the family and were aware of their imminent departure before dawn on Thursday, police said.

"We are interrogating the taxi driver and hopefully the culprits will be traced in the next 24 to 48 hours... Our top priority is to recover the child without any harm," he said.

The British High Commission (embassy) in Islamabad confirmed that a British child had been kidnapped in Pakistan.

"We're currently in touch with the family providing consular assistance and the local authorities are currently doing an investigation," spokesman George Sherriff told AFP.

Kidnappings of Westerners are rare in Pakistan, but criminal gangs, some connected to Islamist militant networks, abduct locals for ransoms or as part of family disputes in parts of the country.