Raid on aid group

2008-10-05 19:38

Mogadishu - Somali gunmen pillaged the office of a Britain-based aid group operating in the lawless country's capital, officials and witnesses said on Saturday.

The gunmen stole computers and other documents from the Muslim Aid office late on Friday in Mogadishu's southern K4 district.

"Armed men stormed the premises and ordered the guards to open the offices, taking everything inside including the computers," a local Muslim Aid official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"They took all the equipment including the safe," said witness Mohamed Osman who lives near the office.

Last week, gunmen closed three offices of US aid group International Medical Corps (IMC) in Somalia's southwestern region after they stormed the buildings and confiscated equipment.

The raid on IMC's offices came a day after rampaging crowds looted relief food destined to some of the country's 3.2 million people facing hunger.

Several aid workers, including foreigners, have been repeatedly targeted by armed groups in the Horn of African nation, one of the world's most lawless.

Aid groups have scaled down operations in Somalia owing to growing insecurity largely blamed on Islamist militants who have waged a guerrilla war since they were ousted by a joint Somali-Ethiopian offensive in early 2007.

- AFP