2 Spanish aid workers abducted in Kenya

Suspected Somali militants entered the world's largest refugee camp Thursday and abducted two Spanish women working with an aid group after shooting and wounding their Kenyan driverthe third kidnapping of Europeans in Kenya in six weeks.

Police pursued the gunmen by land and air, just as they had done following anighttime kidnapping of a French womanfrom an island resort earlier this month. In September, a British woman was abductedand her husband was shot to deathat a coastal resort.

The kidnappings by armed Somalis underscore the ease with which militants can cross into Kenya, take hostages and return to a land where power is determined by AK-47s and bandoliers of ammunition.

The police expressed confidence in capturing the gunmen even though the last two kidnappings saw the female captives taken into Somalia.

Regional police chief Leo Nyongesa said he believes the attackers came from Somalia because that was the direction they fled after Thursday's abduction from the Dadaab refugee camp, about 80 kilometres from the Somalia-Kenya border.

"We are following them by the road and air. We have closed the borders. We are tracking them down," Nyongesa said.

Closing the border, however, is impossible. The frontier is marked by a poorly manned border crossing and wide expanses of wilderness on either side of the road, which allows militantsand Kenya's military at timesto cross with ease.

Attack could complicate Dadaab aid effort

Theworld's largest refugee camp, Dadaab would qualify as Kenya's third-most populous city and has become a mini-Somali state.

Tens of thousands of new Somalis have flooded Dadaab in the last three months to escape famine. The camp holds nearly a half-million Somalis, some of them third-generation refugees.

Kenyan officials have won international praise for accepting so many refugees fleeing hunger and war, but those who live near Dadaab complain that the Somali population increases insecurity.

The gunmen hijacked the vehicle in which the aid workers for Doctors Without Borders were riding and shot their driver in the neck, according to Baijo Mohamed, a youth leader in the Dadaab refuge camp.

A statement from the aid group gave few details but said the injured driver was hospitalized in stable condition.

"Two international staff are missing. A crisis team has been set up to deal with this incident," the group said.

In Spain, a Foreign Ministry official confirmed that two Spanish women who do logistics for the group were abducted. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with ministry rules.

The attack could complicate the aid effort at Dadaab, even though aid workers already operate under security requirements. UN staff must have armed escorts and most aid workers must be inside secure compounds before nightfall.