Militiamen in Somalia's northern Puntland region on Wednesday kidnapped two foreign female aid workers, sparking a heavy exchange of fire with pursuing local police.
"We can confirm that two of our staff were taken by force in Bosasso this morning," said Susan Sanders, the spokeswoman for the international medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF).
"At the moment, we are receiving conflicting reports about their safety and whereabouts and until we are able to confirm these reports, we cannot provide any further comment," she said.
Sanders identified the women as Spanish doctor Mercedes Garcia and Argentine nurse Pilar Bauza.
Later on Wednesday, MSF said authorities in northeastern Somalia were negotiating with the kidnappers.
The charity said that it had ordered four of its remaining seven workers to leave Somalia's breakaway region of Puntland where the kidnapping took place.
The three others, part of a team working on a nutrition programme, were in "direct touch with the authorities in charge of the negotiation process," Carlos Ugarte, the external relations director of MSF-Spain, told a news conference.
Puntland Trade Minister Abdishamad Yusuf Abwan said that heavy exchanges of fire erupted between the militiamen and the police, resulting in the arrest of two kidnappers.
A police official said that some casualties had been sustained in the kidnappers' group but added that details were not immediately available.
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