Saturday, August 23, 2008
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped two Western journalists on Saturday near Somalia's capital Mogadishu, residents and a security source said.
The pair, believed to be an Australian man and Canadian woman, were apparently seized during a visit to camps for displaced civilians at Elasha, south of the city.
"We heard that unknown gunmen abducted two foreign journalists, a white man and a white woman," Fatuma Ali, a primary teacher in Elasha, told Reuters by telephone.
Mohamed Ajos, head of security at Mogadishu's Shamo Hotel, said the pair had been staying at the hotel.
"They left us this morning to visit internally-displaced camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu," he told Reuters.
"Now they are nowhere to be found. They were accompanied by a Somali translator and were to visit parts of Lower Shabelle region."
The reported kidnapping came a day after Somali insurgents seized the strategic southern port of Kismayu from a pro-government clan militia in fighting that killed at least 70 people.
Source: Reuters, Aug 23, 2008