Somali abductors threaten to kill foreign aid staff

MOGADISHU, May 13 (Reuters) Gunmen who kidnapped two foreign aid workers in northern Somalia this week have threatened to kill them if regional authorities try to rescue them, a local reporter said today.

Abdiqani Hassan told Reuters he had spoken to the kidnappers' leader by satellite telephone late yesterday from a remote location in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

The man, who gave his name only as Mohamed, said talks with clan elders over the release of the Kenyan and Briton working for the relief agency CARE International had collapsed.

''We will state our ransom price later,'' Mohamed said.

''The hostages are fine and are now swimming in a swamp. If Puntland troops try to rescue them by force we will kill them.'' Puntland officials and CARE International's regional spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.

The report could not be independently confirmed.

Mohamed said the foreigners had been seized in protest against the Puntland administration.

''We abducted the hostages in order to claim ransom and embarrass the Puntland administration. We don't gain anything from it.'' A Kenyan maritime official has said the two hostages may have been seized by local fishermen for use as a bargaining chip in a dispute with the authorities over fishing permits.

Puntland runs itself independently of the rest of Somalia and has been more peaceful than most areas in recent years.

But the whole country is dangerous for aid workers. In the self-declared independent enclave of Somaliland, two men were recently sentenced to death for their role in the murders of an Italian, two Britons and a Kenyan in 2003 and 2004.

Authorities generally blame militant Islamists for attacks on foreigners.

Reuters DS GAC1554