* Troops pursuing kidnappers, security source says
* Paris yet to confirm whether hostages are French (Recasts with gun battle near border)
By Abdoulaye Massalatchi
NIAMEY, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Niger's security forces fought a gun battle with gunmen holding two Westerners hostage but the kidnappers escaped, a security source and state radio said on Saturday.
The clash took place around Ouallam, near the border with Mali about 160 km (100 miles) northwest of Niamey, Niger's capital, where the pair, believed to be French, were abducted from a bar overnight.
"The kidnappers are in one vehicle and they are being pursued by reinforcements from Niamey," a security source said.
State radio said a Nigerien officer had been wounded in the clash but there was no information on the hostages.
A search was under way on Saturday after witnesses said men wearing turbans entered the "Toulousain" bar in Niamey overnight and took two Frenchmen away in a car.
France says it is aware of the incident, but has not confirmed whether the men were French.
The incident was the latest in a series of kidnappings in Niger, where hostages have in the past ended up in the hands of al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM, which operates across West and North Africa's vast Sahara.
"Four men wearing turbans armed with automatic weapons entered the bar. Three went straight to the table the Frenchmen were at while the other one remained at the entrance," said Mamane Rabiou Aboubacar, who was in the bar at the time.
"The attackers spoke in Arabic and then forced the Frenchmen to go with them."
While it was not clear if groups linked to al Qaeda were involved, it would be the first kidnapping to take place in the capital, hundreds of kilometres from the lawless desert zones where the Islamists as well as rebels and bandits operate.
Hostages are usually quickly transferred to Mali's desert north after they are taken. Complicity and the lack of cooperation between countries in the Sahel region have hindered efforts to curb the Islamists' activities but Nigerien forces say they are ready to pursue the kidnappers into Mali.
A Malian Defence Ministry source told Reuters in Bamako Mali's armed forces had been put on high alert after the kidnapping.
In previous cases, AQIM has issued such as the release of Islamists jailed by governments in the region.
Hostages have been freed after multi-million dollar ransoms have been paid, security experts say, but the payments have never been acknowledged.
AQIM is already holding another five French citizens, some of whom work for mining giant Areva, who were among a group of seven foreigners kidnapped from the northern mining town of Arlit in September last year.
Abdelmalek Droukdel, leader of AQIM, has said Paris should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and negotiate with al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden if it wants the safe release of its hostages. (Additional reporting and writing by David Lewis; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
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