Mogadishu: Two foreign contractors working for a UN-funded project were kidnapped in Somalia on Tuesday, witnesses said.

The British man and a Kenyan working for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation were kidnapped in Middle Jubba province, a Somali aid worker said.

"We understand that the British man was wounded during an exchange of gunfire between the Somali bodyguards and the militia," he added.

A British Foreign Office spokesman in London said they were investigating the report.