A German man and his Somali wife were abducted by armed men in northern Somali region of Bossaso, an official reported Sunday.

According to Yusuf Ahmed Jama, head of local rights agency Action Against Human Trafficking, the couple were kidnapped at gunpoint on late Saturday while visiting relatives in the area, and were taken away to a "mountainous area."

No further information was available.

With no effective central government, Somalia has been plagued by chaos since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.