Police: 6 of 10 Somali kidnappers gave up

BOUSSASO, Somalia, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Somali police searching Thursday for two abducted medical aid workers said six of the 10 armed suspected kidnappers surrendered during a gunfight.

The abductions occurred near the northern port city of Boussaso, when a woman doctor and nurse working for Doctors Without Borders were yanked from a car while on their way to a refugee camp, a Times of London foreign correspondent reported.

Dr. Mercedes Garcia of Spain, and Argentinean nurse, Pilar Bouza, were kidnapped and pursued by police into the city, the report said.

The Spanish Ambassador in Kenya Nicolas Martin Cinto said a regional official told him six of the kidnappers had "laid down their arms" after the gun battle and the rest were negotiating for the women's release, the report said. Four other suspects escaped.

Kidnapping gangs are fairly common in Somalia but haven't killed any of their victims, as their motive is negotiate ransom payments, the newspaper said.