Charity worker kidnapped in Sudan

Sharon Commins is an aid worker in Sudan's Darfur region

An Irish aid worker has been kidnapped by an armed gang in Kutum in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Sharon Commins, 32, and a Ugandan woman in her 40s were working for the charity Goal when they were taken captive.

Ms Commins had been working in the region for a year. A Sudanese security guard was also kidnapped but later freed by the unidentified gunmen.

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said the embassy in Cairo was urgently investigating the situation.

Goal chief executive John O'Shea said the women had been kidnapped by a group of six armed bandits.

He said they had been working in a dangerous part of Sudan where many armed gangs operated.