Somali aid workers in crisis talks after killings

Mogadishu: Aid workers in Somalia held crisis meetings o Sunday over the killings of humanitarian staff in the country.

At least three aid workers were killed in the country this year, with four others held hostage.

Fears were raised further in the past week by leaflets threatening non-government organisation workers with death if they did not quit their jobs.

Aid sources said most agencies working in Somalia were discussing suspending operations in Mogadishu and the south.

"It really is the end of the world if we now have to face death just because we are helping poor people," said a local doctor who asked not to be identified.

In the latest violence, men armed with pistols shot dead the deputy head of a German charity south of the capital on Friday.

A week ago, gunmen killed Osman Ali Ahmed, the head of the UN Development Programme.