Kidnappers holding 60 mine defusers in Afghanistan --- Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The prospect of being blown up makes defusing landmines dangerous work, particularly in Afghanistan. But that is just one of many dangers that explosives workers face there. -- On Tuesday, armed men abducted 68 mine defusers who were on their way to clear explosives in the western province of Herat, on Iran's border, a spokesman for the mine disposal organization that employs them said. -- Eight of the abducted were able to flee, said Dr. Farid Homayoun of Britain's Halo Trust. --- The organization has 150 mine defusing teams and employs more than 3,000 Afghans, it says on its website. It also destroys other munitions. -- Since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, multiple warring parties have laid landmines, bringing the total number of mines to as many as 640,000 Halo Trust reports. --The kidnappers first took the explosives workers -- all Afghan natives -- their vehicles and their equipment to a village. Then the abductors forced the captives to go into the mountains, Homayoun said. --- No one, including the Taliban, has taken responsibility for the kidnapping, Homayoun said, and no ransom demands have been made. - More, CNN, at: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/21/world/asia/afghanistan-bomb-defusers/index.html