20101017
reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - A British aid worker kidnapped by masked gunmen in Somalia is alive and being looked after by his captors, the Save the Children charity said on Sunday.

"We can confirm that he is well. He is being looked after and is in good spirits," Anna Ford, the charity's spokeswoman in Nairobi said in an emailed statement.

"We are still extremely concerned about him and call upon whoever is holding him to release him."

The Briton was abducted late on Thursday from a guesthouse compound in the town of Adado near the border with Ethiopia. A Somali working for the same charity was also kidnapped and later released.

Save the Children said the pair were preparing for a possible humanitarian programme to help malnourished and sick children and their families in the area.

Nearly all aid agencies have pulled their staff out of the lawless Horn of Africa country due to the lack of security and risk of kidnap.

Pirates have targeted many ships off the Somali coast, seeking large ransoms. A retired British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, was seized on their yacht as they sailed to the east African country of Tanzania in October 2009.

Islamist groups have fought a three-year insurgency to topple Somalia's fragile interim government, which they say is a puppet of the West, and want to impose a strict version of Islamic sharia law throughout the country.

Britain's Foreign Office advises against all travel to Somalia and says any Britons already there should leave.