A gunman killed three Somali aid workers, including two with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), in Somalia on Friday, development officials said. The attack took place in the central Somali town of Matabaan, in a region under the control of the Ahlu Sunna militia group, which supports the Somali government.
"It was a shocking attack. A gunman opened fire and killed a local NGO (aid group) worker and two World Food Programme staff members during distribution day," Abdi Ali Moalim, an aid worker in Matabaan, told Reuters. The WFP said two staff members and one man working for a co-ordinating partner had been shot dead. "The individual then gave himself up and is currently in the custody of the local authorities. WFP operations have been temporarily suspended in Matabaan," the relief agency said from Nairobi. A spokesman for the Ahlu Sunna group said the gunman was in the group's custody. "We are investigating him," Sheikh Abdulaahi Abu Yusuf told Reuters. "We don't know who was directly behind the case."