Mogadishu  - Somali armed men kidnapped six foreigners, including four aid workers and two airline pilots in near the town of Dusamareb in central Somali on Wednesday, residents said.

Mohamoud Dhaqane, a businessman in Dusamareb, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa the six were taken when armed gunmen stormed the airstrip as they were due to depart for Nairobi.

There was some confusion over which organization they worked for.

Some reports say they are employees of French charity Action Against Hunger while others say they work for the Red Cross.

Aid workers have increasingly targeted for killings and abductions in Somalia this year as a bloody Islamist insurgency shows no sign of letting up. (dpa)