MOGADISHU: Gunmen kidnapped three aid workers – two Italians and a Somali – in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region on Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks against humanitarian groups, officials told AFP.

"Three aid workers, among them two Italians, a man and a woman, were kidnapped early this morning by armed men who blindfolded them and took them away," local elder Mohamed Ibrahim Ali told AFP.

A local security official confirmed the kidnapping and said the security forces were trying to locate the hostages.

"We are currently investigating who kidnapped them and where they were taken," Ali Mohamed Gele told AFP.

The kidnapping took place at around 6:30am (0330 GMT) in the village of Awdhegle, 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu.

The three who were abducted all worked for an Italian non-governmental organisation called Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud (CINS), or North-South Italian Cooperation, both officials said.

The elder said the non-Italian hostage was Abderahman Yusuf Arale, the local head of the Italian aid group.

In Rome, a foreign ministry spokesman confirmed the kidnapping of the two Italians.

"We are in contact with their families and we are following the situation with much attention," the spokesman said.

Somali security officials in the region where the kidnapping took place said that CINS staff had already come under attack at a checkpoint on May 2.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said that three people had died in the exchange of fire – one attacker, one member of the CINS escort and one member of the Somali security services – although they could not certify that the Italians were targeted.

Aid workers, including foreigners, have been repeatedly targeted by armed groups in Somalia in recent months.

The spate of kidnappings and killings has complicated the delivery of aid to the most affected populations in the Horn of Africa country, where the UN says one of the world's worst humanitarian catastrophes is unfolding.

On May 13, gunmen abducted a Kenyan teaching at Mogadishu University.

Kidnappers are also holding two aid workers: a Kenyan and a Briton, seized in April in southern Somalia whose whereabouts remain unknown.

In early May, gunmen killed a truck driver working for the World Food Programme in central Somalia.

The United Nations and aid groups have scaled down operations in Somalia owing to increased insecurity, largely blamed on Islamist militants who have waged a deadly guerrilla war since they were ousted by joint Somali-Ethiopian forces in early 2007.

Amnesty International has pleaded with the militants to end the kidnapping and killing of foreign workers in Somalia – a nation where 2.6 million Somalis, including a million displaced people, require help to feed themselves.

Earlier this month, Islamist rebels pledged to kill foreigners and pro-government supporters after US airstrikes killed their leader Aden Hashi Ayro, who was accused of being the Al-Qaeda leader in the country.

The United Nations is currently trying to build trust between the government and moderate Islamists at talks that were launched on May 12 in Djibouti.

The political foes last week issued a rare joint statement urging their supporters to facilitate humanitarian access and the delivery of aid.


- AFP/so