30 Shiite Muslim men kidnapped in Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN)Masked gunmen wearing Afghan National Army uniforms kidnapped 30 Shiite Muslim men from a bus in central Afghanistan, officials said.

The men were taken late Monday afternoon as their bus was passing through Zabul province on the highway between Kandahar and Kabul.

The kidnappers took the men off the bus, but left women and children behind, said Abdul Khaliq Ayoubi, the governor of Shah Joy -- the district in Zabul province where the incident took place.

According to the women, the kidnappers were wearing Afghan National Army uniforms and were speaking a "foreign language," Ayoubi said.