4 Somali aid workers kidnapped outside Mogadishu

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Somali official says gunmen have kidnapped four local aid workers outside Mogadishu. Abdulqadir Sheik Mohamed says the woman and three men were kidnapped Monday from their car. It was the latest attack on aid workers in Somalia, one of the most violent countries in the world. Mohamed, a governor of Lower Shabelle region, said Tuesday that the hostages work for the Italian non-governmental organization Water for Life. Kidnappings have been on the rise in Somalia, which has had no effective central government or rule of law since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. So far this year nine other aid workers have been abducted, according to a report released last week by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.