Security forces fought and surrounded Somali kidnappers today hours after they abducted a Spanish and an Argentine aid worker with the medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF).
"The police captured two of the kidnappers after a heavy exchange of gunfire, and they are now surrounded," Puntland Trade Minister Abdishamad Yusuf Abwan told Reuters.
In the latest such abduction in the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region, the women's car was ambushed by a gang with machineguns in Bosasso port as they drove to a hospital.
But they were pursued by authorities and engaged in a gunfight shortly after, locals said.
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 also said of the drama that "it looks like this is going to be resolved".
The abduction in Bosasso port 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.
Known for its relative stability compared with chaotic south Somalia, Puntland has, however, become increasingly associated with kidnappings, hijackings and piracy.