Britain has issued a travel advisory for its citizens following the kidnapping of a French woman on a Kenyan island.

British citizens are warned against traveling the coastal areas where the woman was kidnapped by Somali militants early Saturday.

Kenyan officials say shots were fired as gunmen stormed the woman's beach house near the resort town of Lamu. The militants then carried the victim off to their boat and tried to flee while Kenyan boats and aircraft gave chase.

A Kenyan government statement late Saturday said some of the gunmen were wounded during an exchange of gunfire but that they still managed to escape across the border to Somalia.

Saturday's kidnapping took place across a lagoon from Lamu island, a popular Kenyan resort near where pirates kidnapped a British woman earlier this month and shot her husband to death.