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Somali Gunmen Kill WFP Worker, Driver


Officials from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) say gunmen in southern Somalia have shot and killed an employee of the relief agency and his driver.

The attack took place late Friday in the town of Dinsor, about 300 kilometers west of the capital, Mogadishu.

The WFP identified the victim as Abdulkadir Diad Mohamed, a Somali national who worked as a finance assistant for the agency.

The agency says both he and his driver, who was not a WFP staff member, were shot and killed by unidentified men. It says a third member of the group managed to escape the attack.

WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran has expressed shock at what she describes as a "senseless and barbaric" attack.

In a statement issued Monday, the WFP says it does not believe his death is related to the recent spate of targeted attacks on aid workers in the country.

Five drivers employed by WFP contractors have been killed in attacks this year.

U.N. aid organizations scaled back their operations in Somalia last month after two workers were killed.

Eighteen months of fighting between Islamist insurgents and the Ethiopian-backed government has killed thousands of Somalis and displaced hundreds of thousands more, most of them from Mogadishu.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991.


Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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