A VETERAN Scottish aid worker has been abducted by gunmen after visiting a local hospital in one of the most volatile areas of Pakistan.

Khalil Dale, 60, from Dumfries, who served as health programme manager for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was kidnapped in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan province.

About eight armed gunmen in a jeep seized the nurse – who was honoured by the Queen with an MBE for his work – yesterday after blocking his vehicle as he returned to his home in a closely guarded area of the city with a Pakistani driver and a local doctor. The driver and doctor were not taken.

Mr Dale, who has been working in Quetta since last February, was in a marked Red Cross vehicle when he was apprehended just 200 yards from his workplace.

"An armed man got out, pointed a gun at the driver and took his keys," said Nazir Kurd, a senior police official in Quetta. "He then forced Mr Dale at gunpoint into his car."

The vehicle carrying Mr Dale was last seen heading towards a road that runs to the Chaman border crossing with Afghanistan.

"We are checking all routes out of the district, but we have not been able to trace that vehicle," added Mr Kurd.

"We are trying to ensure that the vehicle does not leave Quetta."

The Foreign Office said it was urgently investigating the incident. No-one immediately claimed responsibility, but criminal gangs have often targeted foreign aid workers in the hope of securing large ransoms for their release.

The ICRC said there was no obvious motive and added it was "calling for the rapid and unconditional release of its kidnapped staff member".

It pledged to continue its humanitarian work in Pakistan, where it has been permanently based for 30 years..

Mr Dale, who was in charge of an ICRC programme to provide equipment and training to local hospitals, has faced death many times, having previously been based in Somalia, Sudan and Afghanistan,

Charles Schooling, a friend and his former landlord in Dumfries, who received a New Year email from the nurse he knew as Ken, said: "When I heard today, it was a real shock to me. An appalling thing to happen, we're really quite worried for him.

"We hope and pray the Red Cross and other authorities can find some way of trying to get him released, unharmed.

"He told me he was still in Quetta and was keeping fine.

"He was just a very likeable chap. He was just always pleasant, easy to get on with, didn't interfere with our lives, an ideal tenant, a man of the world who was always interesting to talk to.

Andrea Hayes, a friend and former colleague of Mr Dale, added: "We're just praying that he is released unharmed."

Four health workers, including two doctors, were kidnapped by militants last week from the Pishin area of Baluchistan, near Quetta.

Olivier David Och, 31, and Daniela Widmer, 28, from Switzerland, were kidnapped last July while travelling in Baluchistan's Loralai district, 105 miles east of Quetta.

The Foreign Office currently advises against "all but essential" travel to Quetta.

The unmarried Scot, who is engaged to an Australian he met a year ago, converted to Islam in his 20s.

He worked at Dumfries Infirmary, but left in 1976 to work as a medic on a North Sea oil rig.

Until two years ago, he lived in Beeswing, near his home town.

He began his service in Iran – where he was placed under house arrest during the revolution of 1979 – and was later based in war zones in Asia and Africa.

He was awarded an MBE for his work in Somalia between 1991 and 1993, where he set up a Red Cross programme and distributed food aid.

In 2001, Mr Dale told of the dangers of working in the country, saying: "Usually the Red Cross never ever deals with people with guns. But in Somalia we had to employ guards and escorts to see us through the dangerous areas and to cross frontlines."