Two British Journalists were on Wednesday abducted by unidentified gunmen in Bossaso, commercial capital of the semiautonomous region of Puntland in northeast Somalia, police officials said.

"The two are British journalists and they were on their way to the airport when their vehicles were deviated from their way," Abshir Abdi Jama, local police spokesman told Xinhua by phone, "The gunmen took the hostages to unknown location around the city."

Jama could not identify the two British journalists but said that he was aware they were in Puntland "for the past few days," covering piracy around the coast of the Puntland where the scourge is endemic.

During their stay, security for the two journalists were provided by local security forces who left the journalists on Tuesday night at their hotel near the airport after the journalists told them they were scheduled to fly on the following day, Jama said.

"Our security forces are on man hunt for the captors and their hostages throughout Bossaso and the culprits will be apprehended," he said.

In August this year, two other foreign journalists, Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan, along with their Somali colleague, cameraman Abdelfitah Mohamed Elmi, were kidnapped by gunmen.

The journalists, who reports say are being held in Mogadishu by an unknown group, were on their way to the internally displaced people camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu where they intended to interview and photograph some of the hundreds of thousands of the displaced people there.

The kidnappers of the three journalists have demanded 2.5 million US dollars for their release and threatened to kill them if their demands are not met.

Locals and foreigners are kidnapped in Somalia mainly for ransom and are mostly released after intervention by local clan elders who wield substantial influence on militias.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2008)