Two foreign aid workers kidnapped in Darfur

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By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM, July 3 (Reuters) - Armed men seized two female aid workers, one Irish and one Ugandan, in Sudan's Darfur region on Friday, a United Nations source said, the third kidnapping of foreign aid staff in the territory in four months.

The men took the women, both working for the Irish aid group GOAL, from their compound in the north Darfur town of Kutum late in the evening, the source told Reuters. A Sudanese guard was also taken but later released, he added.

"At the moment, we do not know the identity of the men, or whether they left a message," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The tactics used by the men, targeting a foreign aid compound in the evening, kidnapping a guard and then releasing him, were similar to those used in earlier abductions in Darfur, the source added.

This year's kidnappings have shocked Sudan's humanitarian groups. Before March, abductions of foreign aid workers were almost unheard of in Sudan's violent western region.

A Canadian and a French woman from France-based Aide Medicale Internationale were kidnapped at gunpoint in Ed el Fursan in South Darfur in early April, but were later released unharmed.

Three foreign workers for Medecins Sans Frontieres, kidnapped in March in north Darfur, were taken by a group protesting at the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Sudan's president. Those workers were also released.

Sudan expelled 13 foreign aid groups earlier this year, accusing them of helping the ICC. Humanitarian organisations have said they have faced growing antagonism in Darfur since the ICC issued the arrest warrant. (Editing by Tim Pearce)