Pak: Body of British Red Cross worker found

The body of a British employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who was kidnapped in January, was found by police in Quetta city of southwest Pakistan on Sunday.

Khalil Rasjed Dale, working as a health programme manager in the ICRC mission, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Quetta on January 5.

He was a Yemen-born British national. Dale's body was put in a bag and left beside a road on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, TV news channels reported.

There was no official word on the development. Media reports said unidentified gunmen had demanded a ransom for the release of Dale but the ICRC had refused to pay.

It was not clear as to who was behind the kidnapping. Police moved Dale's body to a hospital for an autopsy, sources said.

Dale had converted to Islam and had been working for the ICRC in Quetta for a year, according to police. Incidents of kidnapping for ransom have increased in Balochistan, local residents said.

Suspected militants are blamed for the abductions to raise funds for their activities, police said. A group of local residents have set up a camp in the main square of Quetta to collect donations to pay ransom to release relatives being held by militants.

John Solecki, an American national working for the United Nations, was kidnapped in Quetta in 2009. The Baloch United Liberation Army had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Solecki, who was freed after several months in captivity.