Somali gunmen on Wednesday kidnapped a Pakistani national working for a Canadian oil firm in the lawless country's breakaway Puntland region, an official and witnesses said. The kidnappers seized the man near Puntland's capital Bossaso, said the official with the region's mining ministry.
"We don't know the identity of the kidnappers and their motive, but it could be part of the growing criminal acts by gangs who are seeking money," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The man is a Pakistan national," he added of the hostage. Bossaso residents and employees of Africa Oil Corporation firm, for which the Pakistani is said to have worked, claimed he had been abducted by his two bodyguards. "This is an inside job. The kidnappers are employees of the Africa Oil Corporation.