Polish aid workers kidnapped in Chechnya

Five Polish aid workers have been kidnapped in Chechnya -- the latest in a series of such abductions in the breakaway Russian republic.

Polish television said the five had not been seen since leaving the capital, Grozny, for a nearby village last Wednesday.

Their vehicle was later found with bullet holes in its tyres.

Russian officials say more than fifty people have been abducted in Chechnya this year; efforts are continuing to obtain the release of two British aid workers held since July.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service