An English tourist kidnapped from a remote Kenyan resort is being held by Somali pirates in a remote corner of the lawless country, according to experts and security analysts in Nairobi.

"Gangs from Southern Somalia took her up the coast and then moved her several times," said Andrew Mwangura, a piracy expert and maritime editor of Somalia Report, an independent online publication.

Judith Tebbutt was abducted by armed men from a remote safari lodge near to the Somali border earlier this month. Her husband, David Tebbutt, was killed in the attack when he resisted, according to Kenyan police.