“She is a nurse who was working every day to save lives and improve the health of some of Somalia’s most vulnerable people.”

The Red Cross said the attack happened around 8.00 pm local time (1700 GMT) when unidentified armed men entered its compound in Mogadishu, adding it is “in contact with various authorities to try and secure her release”.

People working for the Red Cross in Somalia told AFP the gunmen appeared to have evaded the compound’s security guards and snuck the nurse out through a back entrance into a waiting vehicle.

A government security officer said investigations were underway. “We have received information indicating a female western staff member was kidnapped from the ICRC office in Mogadishu,” said Abdirahman Mohamed.

The abduction is the second attack on ICRC employees in Somalia in just over a week.

Abdulhafid Yusuf Ibrahim, a Somali national who had worked for the group for only five months, died on March 25 after an improvised bomb exploded beneath his car as he left the ICRC office.