Somali gunmen kidnapped two western journalists in the northern province of Puntland yesterday, police said, in the latest attack on foreigners working in the lawless Horn of Africa nation.
Somalia has been immersed in civil conflict for the last 17 years. The government is fighting a two-year-old Islamist insurgency while the chaos has fuelled piracy in Somalias waters, bringing foreign warships rushing to the area.
It is one of the worlds most dangerous countries for reporters.
"I think both the journalists are British but we shall investigate. . . we are sending police to free them," Puntlands police spokesman Abshir Said Jama said.
A Spanish foreign ministry spokesman in Madrid said one of the kidnapped journalists was Spanish photographer José Cendon.
The spokesman did not say who Mr Cendon worked for.
In London, a Foreign Office spokesman could not confirm that Britons were involved in the kidnapping in Puntland: "We are checking these reports, but have no confirmation as yet."
Two freelancers, an Australian and a Canadian, are still being held after being seized in the capital Mogadishu in August.
Foreign aid workers have also been increasingly targeted this year, with a string of assassinations and kidnappings.
Foreign journalists generally stay out of Somalia, leaving reporting on the ground to local journalists. But a few do still go in, usually hiring local militia to protect them.
Kidnappers in Somalia are generally seeking ransom payments and seldom harm their hostages.
Islamist insurgents are facing off against the Somali government and its Ethiopian military allies in the south, but Puntland in the north runs its affairs with relative autonomy.
Gangs flourish there, however, and Puntland has become a major base for piracy.
