A global media watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has expressed concern over the safety of four journalists who were reported kidnapped in the port city of Bossasso in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

In a statement received here on Thursday, the New York-based media freedom organization called for their immediate release.

Colin Freeman, a reporter for London's Daily Telegraph, Spanish freelance photographer José Cendón, and Somali freelancers Awale Jama and Muktar Said were seized by unknown assailants around on Wednesday, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists and the Puntland Journalist Club.

The four were abducted after they left their hotel, but their driver was not taken, Puntland Journalist Club Chairman Abdiqani Hassan told CPJ.

The kidnappers had not made contact with anyone as of late Wednesday, said Abdul Aziz Gamey, the Puntland police commander.

"We are alarmed by reports of the abduction of our four colleagues," said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes.

"This underscores what an incredibly dangerous place Somalia has become for both local and foreign journalists. We urge the authorities in Bossasso to do all in their power to ensure the safe return of all four journalists."

Freeman and Cendón were in the region for a week to report stories on piracy, which has become increasingly rampant in the waters off the war-torn Somalia, where there has been no functioning government for 18 years.

Jama and Said, both of whom are local journalists, were assisting them as fixer and interpreter, local reporters told CPJ.

The two foreign journalists were scheduled to depart Puntland on Wednesday for a flight to Djibouti.

Freelance journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan, who were kidnapped in August outside the capital, Mogadishu, are still being held captive.

French journalist Gwen LeGouil was held hostage for eight days just outside Bossasso last December. He was freed unharmed.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2008)