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16 September 2011
Last updated at 04:57 ET
Somalia's government says it believes a British tourist kidnapped in Kenya is being held by the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab.
Judith Tebbutt, 56, was kidnapped by gunmen from a remote Kenyan resort at Kiwayu, near Lamu island.
The gang also shot dead her 58-year-old husband, David Tebbutt.
Somalia's defence minister, Hussein Arab Issa, said Mrs Tebbutt, from Hertfordshire, had been taken across the border into Somalia by al-Shabab.
But the Somali government has not ruled out the possibility of other groups holding her.
The BBC's East Africa Correspondent, Will Ross, said the Somali government had said it was doing everything in its power to gain her release.
But if she was in al-shabab territory, the Mogadishu regime would need assistance from other countries, he said.
Our correspondent said very few facts were known about what happened to Mrs Tebbutt after she was taken away by an armed gang in a speedboat.
After the arrest of at least one Kenyan man there is speculation that the gunmen were a mix of Kenyan and Somali nationals.
The couple come from Bishop's Stortford and their son, Oliver, lives in Watford.
On Wednesday Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We are doing everything we possibly can on this desperately tragic case."
The Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel to within 30km (18 miles) of Kenya's border with Somalia. There have been previous attacks by Somali militia into Kenya.
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Judith Tebbutt, 56, was kidnapped by gunmen from a remote Kenyan resort at Kiwayu, near Lamu island.
The gang also shot dead her 58-year-old husband, David Tebbutt.
Somalia's defence minister, Hussein Arab Issa, said Mrs Tebbutt, from Hertfordshire, had been taken across the border into Somalia by al-Shabab.
But the Somali government has not ruled out the possibility of other groups holding her.
The BBC's East Africa Correspondent, Will Ross, said the Somali government had said it was doing everything in its power to gain her release.
But if she was in al-shabab territory, the Mogadishu regime would need assistance from other countries, he said.
Our correspondent said very few facts were known about what happened to Mrs Tebbutt after she was taken away by an armed gang in a speedboat.
After the arrest of at least one Kenyan man there is speculation that the gunmen were a mix of Kenyan and Somali nationals.
The couple come from Bishop's Stortford and their son, Oliver, lives in Watford.
On Wednesday Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We are doing everything we possibly can on this desperately tragic case."
The Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel to within 30km (18 miles) of Kenya's border with Somalia. There have been previous attacks by Somali militia into Kenya.
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