MEN KIDNAPPED, RAPED WOMEN IN BOSNIA - UN

July 26, 2002 - (AP article in The Chronicle-Herald - Nova Scotia) Armed men kidnapped six women working at a nightclub in central Bosnia and allegedly raped and beat them before releasing all but one, UN officials said Thursday.

The 15 men abducted the women Monday night from a club in Kiseljak, 20 kilometres west of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, said Kirsten Haupt, Spokeswoman for the United Nations, which monitors the work of local police.

Police said the kidnappers released five of the women. The sixth remained missing Thursday and police continued their investigation, Haupt said. UN police will also investigate the incident, UN officials in New York City said.

The women told local police "they had been raped, beaten and tortured by the kidnappers," Haupt said.

Authorities did not immediately offer a motive for the kidnapping but the Sarajevo newspaper Dnevni Avaz quoted police sources saying it appeared to involve an unpaid debt.

"Somebody did not pay something to somebody. We will find out what it is."

"Most likely these women were not paid for because they were treated in this case as goods," the paper quoted a police official saying.

Bosnia is working with the United Nations to crack down on women trafficking and prostitution.