ROME (AFP) — The Italian foreign ministry confirmed Wednesday the kidnapping by gunmen earlier in the day of two Italian humanitarian aid workers in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region.
"We confirm the kidnapping Wednesday morning of two Italians -- a man and a woman -- who are members of Cooperazione Italiana Nord Sud (CINS)," a ministry spokesman said.
"We are in contact with their families and we are following the situation with much attention," added the spokesman, who could not confirm the abduction at the same time of a Somali who was the local head of CINS.
A local security official and a local elder told AFP that all three had been kidnapped early in the morning by armed men who blindfolded them and took them away. Efforts were underway to identify the abductors.
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