In the early hours of Saturday, a group of unknown assailants forced their way into the house of US-citizen Warren Weinstein, an expert in international development who has been working in Pakistan for at least five years.

After overpowering security guards, they abducted Mr. Weinstein but someone has yet to claim responsibility.Lahore police chief Ahmed Raza Tahir told Reuters that a few people have been detained for questioning, including a guard posted at the house. “We hope to recover him soon,” he added without further details.

Abductions are relatively common in Pakistan and usually it is local people who are targeted for ransom. A few foreigners have been taken by militant groups.

In the BBC report, security guards were tricked to open the door before dawn on Saturday by men with food offerings for the fasting month of Ramadan. Alberto Rodriquez, a US embassy spokesman, confirmed the kidnapping and said American authorities was working with local police on the case.

Mr Weinstein, who is in his late 60s, has been identified as an employee for J.E. Austin & Associates, a Virginia-based consulting firm, on a development project in areas where Pakistani troops have been battling Islamist insurgents for years, according to Reuters.

The case is putting pressure on an already strained relationship between Pakistan and the United States which have been deteriorated since the US military raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden inside Pakistan in May.

Already in February, an American CIA contractor Raymond Davis caused anger when he shot who men whom he claimed were trying to rob him in Lahore.

According to the BBC, Mr Davis was released and returned to home after the US paid compensation to the deceased’s families.

The preceding abduction cases include a Swiss couple who was kidnapped in July by Pakistani Taliban. Last year, five-year-old Sahil Saeed, a British citizen, was kidnapped while visiting his grandmother in the Punjab region. He was released after 12 days on a $180,000 ransom.

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