By Noor Ali

ISIOLO, Kenya, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Two Italian nuns kidnapped by Somali gunmen on the Kenyan border this week are still in Somalia but are safe and elders from both nations are negotiating their release, Kenya said on Saturday.

Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Maria Teresa Olivero, 60, were abducted on Monday by scores of attackers who stormed the small town of El Wak, firing wildly and launching a rocket at a Kenyan police post before escaping across the border in hijacked cars.

"Elders from our country and Somalia have managed to identify the place where the nuns are being held," said Josephat Maingi, Kenya's North Eastern provincial commissioner. "They are safe and we're making all efforts to secure their release."

He told Reuters no ransom demand had been made, and that the pair were being held more than 100 km (60 miles) inside Somalia. He did not elaborate, but denied Kenya was planning a military operation to rescue the two women.

"It is true we have deployed security personnel along the border, but that is just a normal security measure," he said.

The abduction of the nuns, who belong to the Movimento Contemplativo Missionario Padre de Foucauld missionary group, came just days after Kenya's army ended an operation to seize illegal firearms in the lawless area.

Cross-border raids are common in the remote, arid region, but usually involve cattle rustlers or gangs of robbers preying on business people in both countries. Ill-funded Kenyan security forces can do little to police the vast, impoverished area.

The kidnapping also underlined the risks in Somalia for humanitarian workers who have increasingly been targeted this year in kidnappings and killings usually blamed on Islamist insurgents, clan militias or criminal gangs. (Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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