Madrid - Three Spanish aid workers have been abducted in the north-western African country of Mauritania, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. The two men and one woman were kidnapped Sunday by armed men, possibly members of the North African branch of al-Qaeda, which is active in the area, media reports quoted local police sources as saying.
The three were travelling in the end of a convoy of 13 vehicles taking materials to the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
Their car was stopped by turbaned men with covered faces, who forced them out of the vehicle and bundled them into their own one at gunpoint, Spanish media reported.
The Mauritanian army was called to accompany the rest of the convoy. Police mounted a hunt for the kidnappers, whose motives were not clear.
Traces of the kidnappers were lost 170 kilometres from the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, the daily El Pais said on its website.
The aid workers were employed by the Spanish non-governmental organization Barcelona Accion Solidaria.
Western countries have been concerned about the growing influence of al-Qaeda in some parts of Africa, including Mauritania. In December 2007, four French tourists were gunned down in the country, prompting the cancellation of the Paris-Dakar rally.
In June, a US teacher was shot dead in Nouakchott.
