1.   It remained unclear why the National Liberation Army abducted the workers.

2.   Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, accused the rebels Saturday of brutally torturing, sexually abusing and mutilating five ethnic Macedonian road workers abducted and released this week.

3.   The five aid workers were abducted Friday in the self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland in connection with a dispute over charcoal exports.

4.   Yermatov has also been accused of abducting eleven workers at the German agricultural aid organization AgroAction and four Tajik security officers in June.

5.   It was not clear whether those holding De Los Santos were the same people as abducted the other aid workers.

6.   Last September three Italian aid workers were abducted and held for two months.

7.   Militants Monday night abducted three workers of another political party from Andro, near Imphal, he said.

8.   One official said he believed the workers were abducted by soldiers who had either been demobilized or deserted.

9.   On Thursday, military officials in Luanda said two Italian workers had been abducted.