American gunmen kidnap in Pakistan

American gunmen kidnap  in Pakistan

 AN American kidnapped at gunpoint from his house in the Pakistani city of Lahore, after gunmen stormed through the back door and overpowered his guards, police said.

Lahore is capital of the eastern province of Punjab and considered one of Pakistan's more liberal cities.

The US embassy said the man had been identified as Warren Weinstein and that he works for a private company.

Snatched at dawn today in the up market neighborhoods of Model Town, just two days before he was due to return to the US after more than four years in the deeply conservative nuclear-armed Muslim country of 167 million.

"Somebody knocked on the main door. According to one of the guards when he opened the door, he saw three men standing there. They offered meals to the guard, who politely refused," police official Tajamul Hussain told AFP.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnapping.

US embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez confirmed the seizure and told AFP: "We are working with Pakistani authorities on this issue."

Police refused to be drawn on possible motivation in a country where anti-American tensions are at an all-time high, and abductions involve both al-Qaeda-linked militants and criminal gangs looking for pay-offs.

Police said Weinstein travelled widely within Pakistan, and had returned to Lahore from the capital Islamabad on Thursday.