German aid worker kidnapped in Somalia

BERLIN (CNN) -- A German aid worker has been kidnapped in northwestern Somalia, the man's employer said Tuesday.

The aid worker is a project manager for Welthungerhilfe, or World Hunger Help, and was abducted on his way from the northern town of Erivago to a meeting with local fishermen, spokeswoman Doris Theisen said.

Armed men stopped the car in which he was traveling and forced him out, Theisen said. In an exchange of gunfire, the driver for the aid organization was slightly wounded, she said.

The aid worker has been managing projects in the Horn of Africa for more than two years and is in charge of a large food project there, she said.

The German Foreign Ministry confirmed a German citizen had gone missing in Somalia.

Ministry spokesman Hubert Jaeger would not confirm it was an aid worker who had gone missing, but said German authorities were working "on all relevant levels to clarify the situation."

Somalia, located in East Africa, has been wracked with violence for years and international agencies have sounded the alarm over the country-wide humanitarian crisis there.

In recent months, Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian forces have battled Muslim militants daily, with the northern section of the capital Mogadishu hardest hit. E-mail to a friend

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