by Yu Zhixiao & Zhang Haibo

    KABUL, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The police have surrounded an area where a German woman was kidnapped on Saturday afternoon in western Kabul, the Afghan capital, the police said.

    A police officer told Xinhua anonymously that the police have surrounded the area and specified five locations where the kidnappers may hide.

    Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashari said the kidnappers' identities and motivation were not immediately clear, adding the police were sparing no efforts in capturing the kidnappers.

    Meanwhile, Sander, a press officer of the German embassy in Kabul, told Xinhua he has kept hearing the incident from journalists, but there was no confirmed information so far.

    An eyewitness Khesraw told Xinhua the German woman was shopping or going to have lunch when the kidnapping occurred. Shopkeepers said the German citizen was living in a nearby neighborhood.

    Police officers at the site said one taxi driver was killed during a shooting between the kidnappers and the police during the kidnapping.

    A Xinhua reporter saw one yellow taxi was parking on the spotwith its back glass broken by bullets, and the ground was tainted with blood.

    No one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. Also on Saturday, a suicide car bombing killed four Afghanguards working for the USPI and 11 civilians, and injured 26 others in the southern Kandahar province.

    The bombing, which occurred some 15 km west of Kandahar city, the provincial capital, was targeting a convoy transferring logistics for NATO troops. The convoy was being escorted by the U.S. Protection and Investigations (USPI), a well-established private security company.

    Over the past few months, Afghanistan has suffered from a spate of kidnappings, carried out either by Taliban militants with political motivation or criminals demanding ransom.

    A top Taliban commander Mansor Dadullah in June ordered Taliban fighters to kidnap all foreigners in Afghanistan to exchange Taliban prisoners in the government prisons.

    Taliban militants kidnapped 23 South Koreans in the central Ghazni province on July 19. Two male hostages were shot dead, and two females were released, while the remaining 19 are still being held by the Taliban.

    Because of rising Taliban violence and criminal activities, Kabul, once a relatively peaceful isolated island due to tightened security, has become more and more dangerous for foreign citizens.

    A roadside bombing in eastern Kabul killed three German police officers protecting the German embassy on Thursday, and the Taliban claimed responsibility for it.

    Also on Thursday, a British citizen working at a security company was shot dead by robbers in the city.