NAIROBI, March 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations announced that Somali gunmen abducted one of its staff in southern Somalia on Wednesday under unknown circumstances.

    "A UNICEF (the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) international staff member Robert McCarthy was abducted at approximately 11:00 hours today, on the outskirts of Afmadow, 110 kilometers north-west of Kismayo in the Lower Juba region of Somalia," said a statement from the United Nations Development Program Somalia. .

    "The United Nations is in communication with the (Somali) Transitional Federal Government and the local authorities in the region that are taking steps to secure McCarthy's release," it added.

    The statement didn't mention the nationality of the abducted UN employee.

    In recent years, kidnapping foreigners has become a lucrative business for many militia and warlords in the war-torn Somalia, where kidnappers often ask for high ransom in exchange for freedom.

    Last year, a journalist working for the British Broadcasting Corporation and one UN local staff member were killed in Somalia. Enditem