Islamabad  - Ethnic tribal rebels in Pakistan's insurgency- hit south-western province of Balochistan claimed Saturday that they were holding captive a UN top official kidnapped in the region earlier this week, a local media report said.

The private news agency Online said the Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF), a secular and nationalist guerrilla organization in Balochistan, had claimed responsibility for the abduction of the local head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

John Solecki, an American national, was snatched on Monday after unknown gunmen shot dead his driver in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

The BLUF, which is seeking separation of the Pakistan's natural resources rich but poverty-stricken province, said the UN official was abducted to bring the plight of the people of Balochistan to the UN's attention.

"We have set three demands for the release of Mr Solecki," Mir Shehek Baloch, who claimed to be a BLUF spokesman, told Online newswire via satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

"We want the UN to secure the release of 141 Baloch women held in the torture cells of Pakistan's intelligence agencies, provide information about our 6,000 missing comrades, and resolve the issue of the independence of Balochistan under Geneva Convention," he said.

The purported BLUF spokesman said Solecki was abducted to protest UN negligence over the issue of Balochistan.

"If our demands are not met, Mr Solecki can lose his life," he warned.

Baloch nationalists have struggled for years for greater share of the province's oil and gas wealth and more autonomy for the region. Recently, some extremist groups have gone a step further to demand a complete separation of the region from Pakistan.

They started an armed campaign in 2005 when the government of President Pervez Musharraf launched a military operation to quell the rebellion. The insurgency has claimed hundreds of lives and several power and communication installations destroyed or damaged.

"We want to bring to the attention of UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon that Pakistan has enslaved Balochistan politically, culturally and socially. But Baloch forces have rebelled against it over the years and this struggle continues even today," said Shehek. (dpa)