Two Swedish charity workers abducted in Dagestan

A Swedish couple working for an international charity organization were abducted in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan on Thursday night, ITAR-TASS news agency reported on Friday, quoting the Russian Federal Security Service.

It said the couple, Falina and Daniel Brolin, were " abducted by unknown persons in central Makhachkala" , in Dagestan, at about 2100 local time.

"The law-enforcement bodies have preliminary information that Mr and Mrs Brolin are members of an international peace mission.

They arrived in Dagestan from Rostov on 25th December, but failed to register with the authorities," the report said.

An investigation has been launched into the incident by the Dagestani Interior Ministry jointly with the Federal Security Service.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.