A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that the workers were traveling by road on Friday when they were held by a group of armed men.

"The ICRC is currently in contact at various levels to secure the safe release of its team," Marek Resich said.

The aid organization did not reveal the nationalities of the abducted workers.

Afghan officials confirmed the kidnap and said the ICRC members were delivering sheep to villagers when they were intercepted by the gunmen.

Raouf Ahmadi, a police spokesman, said the kidnappers took both the workers and the sheep, which might be an indication that it was an incident of robbery and not a militant attack.

Islamist militants in the past have targeted local and foreign aid workers. On July 24, the Taliban killed two Finnish aid workers in the province.

Indian engineers freed

Separately, an Afghan intelligence official said on Saturday that government forces had freed three Indian engineers kidnapped by the Taliban.

"These engineers were working for a company named OASIS, and were abducted by the militants earlier in the week while travelling from Logar province to Kabul," the Afghan National Directorate of Security said in a statement.

"Our detection personnel found out their location and launched an operation in the Babus area of Logar, rescuing them unhurt."

Afghan officials said that one person was arrested in the Friday night operation.

shs/mkg (AP, dpa)