18 July 2009
Mandhera — Unidentified Somali gunmen have abducted three foreign aid workers in Mandera town in the border between Somalia and Kenya, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Saturday.

Reports say that the kidnapped foreigners were working for an internaional French charity Organization ( ICF) and were abducted by unknown armed group from the centre of the agency overnight injuring one of the security guards of the centre.

Locals said that the foreign aid workers were a Pakistani, a Zimbabwean and a westerner and it is unclear the reason of their abduction so far and also where the kidnappers took them.

ICF is one of the international charity organisaztions which provided food to the people, especially the women and children in Mandera town, on the border of Somalia and Kenya.

The kidnapping of the three aid workers comes as two French training officials were kidnapped from the Somali capital Mogadishu, as more Kenyan security forces were deployed to the town to assure the security and make search operations in the area of the ICF centre where the abduction happened.
allafrica.com