Somali insurgents capture three aid workers

Mogadishu: Two Italian aid workers along with their Somali colleague have been kidnapped by gunmen in an overnight attack in a Somali village, a witness said on Wednesday.

Two men and an Italian woman were blindfolded and taken away from the Awdhigle village in central Somalia, a village elder said.

The victims were working for Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud, an Italian aid agency, supported by the European Union, United Nations and USAID.

Following a US missile strike killed the head of the Islamist Al Shabab militia, Aden Hashi Ayro, and 24 other people earlier this month, the militants swore to target foreign workers.

Somalia has been engaged in an ongoing conflict between Islamic insurgents and the unstable transitional government.