Gunmen abducted a French aid worker in the Afghan capital Monday and shot dead an Afghan man who tried to rescue him, the Kabul government said, in the latest of a series of attacks on foreigners here.
   
The man, who works for a non-governmental organisation, was walking in a residential area of Kabul when he was snatched by three armed men, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashari told AFP.
   
A second foreigner escaped, witnesses said.
   
The nationality of the abducted man could not be immediately confirmed by the French government or embassy, or his organisation.
   
"A man... who tried to help and stop the abductors was shot and killed as he tried to scuffle with the abductors," Bashari said.
   
There has been a series of kidnappings in the capital, mostly by criminal gangs seeking thousands of dollars in ransom, and three expatriates were shot dead in attacks last month.
   
The dead man was identified by his uncle as Malik, 26, who was a driver for a provincial intelligence department.
   
"My nephew tried to stop them abducting the foreigners," said the uncle, Ghulam Hazrat, 50.
   
"He grabbed the gun of one of the kidnappers. The other shot him dead with five bullets. At this time one of the foreigners ran away and they put the other in the car, kicking him badly."
   
The two foreigners had been walking towards a main road but the armed men were waiting for them in a car, Hazrat said. They grabbed the two and tried to shove them into the car when Malik intervened, he said.
   
Another witness to the kidnapping in the Baharistan area said he had seen two foreign nationals walking down a street being followed by two armed men, with a third in a car following them.
   
"One of the foreigners tripped and the other continued to run," said Hajatullah, 28, who lives in the area.
   
"The two abductors arrived as the foreigner fell to the ground. A man stopped his car and tried to take the gun from one of the abductors.
   
"The second abductor opened fire and killed the man trying to help. The two forced the foreigner into the waiting car and disappeared."
   
There are hundreds of aid organisations in Afghanistan trying to help the country recover from three decades of war.
   
A dual national British-South African woman working with disabled children was shot dead in the capital last month in a killing claimed by the Taliban insurgent movement which alleged her NGO was preaching Christianity.
   
Days later another South African and a Briton were shot dead by a guard as they arrived at work for their company, the international courier firm DHL.