Pakistani captors: U.N. hostage will die

QUETTA, Pakistan, March 2 (UPI) -- A Pakistani militant group holding an American working for the United Nations says it will kill the hostage in four days if its demands are not met.

The previously unknown group, The Balochistan Liberation United Front, said in a letter John Solecki, 49, will die unless 1,109 people it says are missing and being held by Pakistani security agencies are released, GEO TV reported Monday.

Solecki, who heads the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in southwestern Balochistan province, was kidnapped in the provincial capital of Quetta Feb. 2 after gunmen ambushed his car and killed the driver, the broadcaster said.

The militant group had earlier demanded U.N. intervention to secure the release of 141 women it said were being held in Pakistani torture cells in exchange for Solecki, and has also demanded information about more than 6,000 missing persons as well and resolution of the issue of Baloch independence, Asian News International reported.