NAIROBI (Xinhua) — A German citizen and his local wife who were kidnapped in northern Somalia on Saturday have been released, a regional maritime official confirmed on Monday.

Andrew Mwangura, the East African Coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP), said the couple were released early Monday but the two Somali gunmen were seriously injured.

“The German hostage and his wife are free but two out of the six Somali gunmen who kidnapped them have been seriously injured and are in hospital,” Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone.

The hostage was heading to visit his in-laws when six armed gunmen took them towards the hills to the east.

Reports said that the German, whom the Somali authorities refused to identify, had been in the Bosasso town for several weeks, spending time with his wife’s family.

The kidnapping of foreigners and aid workers for ransom is common in lawless Somalia, where there has not been an effective central government since former dictator Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

Last month, pirates from the north of the Horn of Africa country freed two German hostages who they had held hostage since June. A member of the gang said a ransom of one million U.S. dollars had been paid.