Eight aid workers and two pilots were kidnapped on Wednesday morning after their plane landed in north Mogadishu, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

A team of negotiators, including the former mayor of Mogadishu, say they have been in contact with the kidnappers, whose identity they did not reveal.

Gosue Anselmo, a Red Cross spokesman, said that armed militiamen fired into the air after the plane landed, at 10:30 local time, and took the aid workers and the pilots away.

He said that no one was injured and, as far as was known, all those kidnapped were safe, but he was unable to comment on who might be responsible.

Kidnappings in Somalia are a commonly-used way of extorting money, or a means of trying to settle disputes over other issues.

Witnesses reported that the gunmen arrived aboard four heavily-armed trucks.

They said airport guards did not attempt to intervene and ran off to hide in tea kiosks.

Since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has been divided into fiefdoms controlled by rival clan warlords.

Three of the most powerful warlords were in Nairobi on Tuesday where they were arranging the reopening of the main port and airport in south Mogadishu.

Ali Mahdi Mohamed, who controls the north of Mogadishu where the kidnapping happened, said he would ensure that the ten kidnap victims were released.

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