Four UN personnel released after temporally kidnapped

Four personnel of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), who were kidnapped in the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur on Wednesday, have been released, UNMIS Spokesperson Radhia Achouri announced.

"Unknown gunmen hijacked two vehicles of the four UNMIS staff members but decided to release them after driving them to a remote area," Achouri told Xinhua.

She said that the abduction took place early Wednesday when the four persons were driving their cars on the outskirts of Fashir, the capital of North Darfur State, on a routine mission.

A UN security unit found the four persons several hours later at Halag, some 70 kilometers north of Fashir, she added.

She described the situation of the four persons as "good", adding that they would be transported to Fashir on Thursday.

The incident was the latest of repeated attacks targeting UN employees and humanitarian organization workers in Darfur.

On Tuesday, an international organization vehicle was hijacked in Fashir and a security guard of a UN agency was shot dead in Kutum.

A nongovernmental organization staff member was shot in the forehead in Hassa Hissa Camp for Refugees in West Darfur on 30 April.

However, the UNMIS spokesperson refused to term the repeated attacks as "an organized campaign" against the UN and humanitarian organizations in Darfur, noting that the armed abductions were aimed at robbing vehicles, contact equipment as well as other materials.

She urged the Sudanese authorities as well as armed groups controlling certain areas in the region to guarantee the safety of the roads and put an end to this kind of robberies.