KHARTOUM - Two German aid workers were kidnapped by armed men in Sudan's Darfur region on Tuesday, UN and aid officials said, in the latest in a string of abductions that has disrupted relief work in the territory.

The two men working for Technisches Hilfswerk were taken from their compound in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state - the first time kidnappers have ventured into one of the region's cities, officials said.

"Seven men, four of them armed with AK-47 rifles, snatched a Sudanese security guard and two aid workers," said Kemal Saiki, the spokesperson of the joint UN-AU peacekeeping force.

The abductors loaded their captives into a vehicle but released the Sudanese guard outside Nyala, said Saiki.

News of an abduction in one of Darfur's three state capitals will dismay humanitarian groups that have already withdrawn many of their foreign staff from remote locations after a wave of kidnappings recently. - Reuters