Wednesday, November 05, 2008
“I was told that the gunmen overpowered the bodyguards of the ACF staff and were taken outside the town (of Dhusamareb),” Wehliye said over the phone from Dhusamareb, 550 km north of the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Wehliye said he could not verify the nationalities of the abducted foreigners but unconfirmed media reports said that the six included a Belgian, a Polish and two French nationals all working for the ACF aid agency while two pilots were reportedly from Kenya.
Reports from Shusamareb said the pilot and the assistant pilot were also taken to an unknown location along with the four aid workers.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the latest abduction in Somalia where a number of other foreigners are being held hostage for ransom.
Locals and foreigners are kidnapped in Somalia mainly for ransom and are mostly released after intervention by local clan elders who wield substantial influence on the militias.
Source: Xinhua, Nov 05, 2008