A British aid worker is among four Westerners who have been kidnapped in Iraq.

Norman Kember, of Pinner, north-west London, is a former secretary of the area's Baptist Peace Fellowship, who is believed to be in his 70s.

He and two Canadians were taken hostage, Iraqi officals said. Unconfirmed reports said the fourth kidnap victim was from the US.

Mr Kember's wife, Pat, said last night her husband was representing a number of different organisations in Iraq.

She said she was receiving a great deal of support from the British authorities, but could not comment further.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "We cannot give any more details at this stage.

"We will be in touch with the Iraqi authorities, and with the other countries involved, the Americans and the Canadians.

"We will be setting in motion an urgent investigation."

Earlier, Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, said the four were kidnapped on Saturday, but refused to say where they were taken from or what organisation they were working for.

He told BBC News 24: "We are, of course, working with the organisation to determine and get more information about what, in fact, transpired.

"The organisation itself has not asked us for anything specifically, but we stand ready to help."

Mr McTeague said it was very early hours and he wanted to hear more information before it was decided how to proceed.

He said: "Normally, these tend to be of a particular category of kidnapping - economic or political. There are a certain number of circumstances, not all of them are identical and so we need to look and get all the information before we respond."

He added: "One thing we will not do, and we have never done, is to negotiate with kidnappers."

An official at one of the peace groups where Mr Kember still sometimes works said last night that as far as he knew, this was his first visit to the country. He said he was "very much involved" in peace-keeping.

"He is a friendly and affable person and very committed to what he believes - a man of a great deal of resource," the official said.