They were on a geological survey when they were abducted.

Two employees of Pakistan’s atomic energy agency have been abducted in the country’s restive north-western region abutting the Afghan border, police say.

The technicians went missing on the same day as Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, was reportedly abducted in the same region…

The workers from Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission were on a mission to map mineral deposits in the mountains when they were kidnapped, police say.

“The technicians were going for some geological survey in the area when they were kidnapped at gunpoint along with their driver,” Romail Akram, a senior police official, told Reuters news agency.

Their vehicle was intercepted by masked gunmen in the Dera Ismail Khan district, a stronghold of local militants.

“We don’t know if the abductors were militants or members of some criminal gang,” a local police chief, Akbar Nasir, told the AFP news agency.

He said efforts to locate the missing men had yet to yield any results.

Not good.