Somali police corner aid workers' kidnap gang

By Abdiqani Hassan

BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) - Security forces kept Somali kidnappers surrounded on Wednesday hours after they abducted a Spanish and an Argentine aid worker from the medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF).

The two women were seized when their car was ambushed by a gang with machine guns in Bosasso port as they drove to a hospital. It was the latest in a string of such abductions in the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region.

The kidnap gang was pursued by local troops and engaged in a gunfight shortly after, locals said.

"The kidnappers are still surrounded. We're still hopeful that we will free the hostages and capture the abductors," said Yusuf Bidde, a local government official.

Bidde did not know whether the abductees were safe or whether negotiations of any kind were going on.

Puntland's vice president Hassan Dahir Afqura said the kidnappers would not be allowed to negotiate.

"Kidnapping has become a business in Puntland," he said.

"We will not engage in dialogue with abductors. We will use force to free the hostages."

The abduction came two days after gunmen in Puntland released French journalist Gwen Le Gouil, whom they kidnapped and held for eight days demanding $80,000 in ransom.

Spain's ambassador in Nairobi, Nicolas Martin Cinto, was quoted by Spanish news agency Efe as saying the kidnappers of Spanish doctor Mercedes Garcia and Argentine nurse Pilar Bouza had surrendered and asked not to be killed.

A Spanish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said it seemed the drama "will be resolved".

U.N. envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah said he was "shocked" by the kidnapping and urged the pair's release.

ARMED MEN

Known for its relative stability compared with chaotic south Somalia, Puntland has, however, become increasingly associated with kidnappings, hijackings and piracy.

"Six men armed with guns approached me, blocking the road," the MSF pair's driver, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. "They hit me very badly and kidnapped the women in their car."