Foreign aid workers kidnapped in Somalia

An American aid worker and a Danish colleague have reportedly been kidnapped in a part of Somalia considered reasonably safe for foreigners.

According to one local official the two aid workers were snatched in the southern part of Galkayo, a town on the border between Somalia and its semi-autonomous northern region, Puntland.

The northern half of the town is in Puntland, the southern half in Galmudug, a clan-ruled enclave in Somalia.

A police officer in Galkayo said the two were kidnapped while travelling to the airport.

The 30-year old American woman and her male Danish colleague, 60, are believed to work for the Danish Demining Group which helps to clear landmines and other unexploded ordnance left by 20-years of war in Somalia.

Kidnappings of aid workers in the region had been relatively rare until recently, but earlier this month two Spanish aid workers were kidnapped in Kenya close to the border with Somalia and helping to trigger an invasion of southern Somalia by the Kenyan army.