Foreign oil worker kidnapped in Somalia

Like hijackings at sea, kidnappings of foreigners onshore have become increasingly common this year in Somalia, including in the northern region of Puntland which has escaped the worst of a two-year insurgency in the south.

"A Pakistani man working for African Oil Corp. was kidnapped by two of his bodyguards between Daroor and Ufayn, about 80 km (50 miles) to the south of Bosasso," Hassan Osman Alore, mineral minister for Puntland, told Reuters.

"He was doing surveys when they kidnapped him."

Alore said soldiers had rushed to the area to try to surround the kidnappers. "We have confidence that the Pakistani will be saved," he said.

Hostages taken in Somalia are mostly freed unharmed for ransom payments after a few weeks, though in Puntland local security services have managed to release some in raids.

Somali officials have in the past occasionally made mistakes identifying nationalities and organisations of foreigners kidnapped. There was no immediate confirmation of Wednesday's case from Vancouver-based Africa Oil.

(Reporting by Abdiqani Hassan; writing by Andrew Cawthorne)