American working for Pentagon found dead in Kabul

KABUL — The body of a U.S. civilian engineer working for the U.S. Department of Defense has been found in the Afghan capital, NBC News reported on Tuesday.

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The man appeared to have been murdered, Reuters reported.

An Afghan intelligence official told NBC that the man left a Kabul military camp in a black Land Cruiser by himself on or around Sept. 2 and had been missing since.

The source said that the suspected abductors used the American's cell phone to call the man's bosses. On their third call they said the man had been killed and his body dumped somewhere in Kabul.

The vehicle and the man's IDs were still missing, according to the source.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told NBC in Afghanistan that the civilian was working for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Security is tight in Kabul, amid rising violence across other parts of the country, and it is rare for a foreigner to go missing in the capital.

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Foreign military bases and diplomatic missions are among the most secure premises in the city, protected with high blast walls and coils of razor wire to ward off attackers.

Foreigners who work on these bases usually travel in convoys or under guard because of the threat of attack and kidnappings, a lucrative business in impoverished Afghanistan.

Scores of locals and foreigners have been abducted in recent years by criminals with financial motives and by Taliban-linked insurgents.

The Taliban struck last month when they raided a British cultural center in Kabul on the 92nd anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from British rule. Nine people were killed during the hours-long assault.

Afghan forces have had responsibility for security in the city since 2008, but there are hundreds of NATO forces stationed in and around the capital, and they are regularly called on to help during complex attacks.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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