Gunmen kidnap two foreign aid workers in Somalia

By Abdi Sheikh and Mohamed Ahmed

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped three aid workers, believed to include a Belgian and a Dutchman, in central Somalia on Sunday, a colleague and a local elder said.

In a separate incident masked gunmen killed a local employee of another charity in the central town of Merka, witnesses said.

Attacks on aid workers in Somalia, which are normally blamed on hardline Islamist rebels and clan militia, have cut the ability of relief agencies to respond to a humanitarian crisis that many say is Africa's most acute.

Local elder Hassan Maalin told Reuters by telephone from central Somalia: "Unidentified armed men kidnapped two MSF-Belgium aid workers in Bakol region."

MSF in Brussels said it had lost contact with a medical team in the area and was seeking more information.

"The team includes two international staff, one Belgian and one Dutch. We are contacting the families. For now we cannot give any names," it said in a statement.

A local MSF worker in Somalia who asked not to be named said three aid workers, including a Belgian and a Somali, had been seized along with their car and Somali bodyguards.

He had earlier identified the third aid worker as a Dane.