Gunmen kidnapped a French journalist Sunday in northern Somalia, AP quoted authorities as saying. «The man has been abducted by armed men,» said Yusuf Mumin Bidde, a deputy governor in the Puntland region. «He had no security with him.» French authorities were in contact with «those who seem to be the kidnappers,» French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said from Paris. «I hope that the contact will not be lost and I hope that it only concerns a demand for ransom,» Kouchner said in a television broadcast. Ali Abdi Aware, a local government minister in Puntland, said a rescue operation was under way. «The regional administration has sent forces to rescue the reporter,» Aware told The Associated Press. He did not elaborate.
