UN contacts abducted staff

Mogadishu is controlled by rival armed groups

The UN says it has details about the whereabouts of six of its staff and three other aid workers who disappeared in Mogadishu during an outbreak of fierce fighting.

A convoy carrying the nine international staff was ambushed by militiamen loyal to a faction leader, Musa Sude Yalahow on Tuesday.

Mogadishu is like a tinderbox still with a lot of conflict between factions liable to break out

UN representative in Nairobi

In the ensuing confusion, four were taken away by the militiamen who are holding them in two locations, the UN says, while the remaining five are sheltering safely elsewhere until the trouble died down.

At least eight Somalis have been killed in the fighting between the militiamen and forces from the transitional government, which continued for much of the day.

The information came from Julia Spry-Leverton, a representative in Nairobi of the UN children's fund, who told the BBC that the situation in Mogadishu was "like a tinderbox".

She said the aid workers had been in telephone contact with colleagues.

An aide to Musa Sude Yalahow said the aid workers had been detained to show that Mogadishu was not safe.

Ambushed

The fighting reportedly began as the aid workers were attacked and overwhelmed when they tried to leave a compound belonging to the humanitarian agency, Medecins Sans Frontieres.

According to eyewitnesses in the neighbourhood, militiamen looted computers, office furniture and even the doors and windows of the compound.

The building also sustained serious damage after anti-tank and heavy machine guns were used in the attack against the compound.

Muse Sude Yalahow is one of handful Somali warlords opposing to the new transitional government.

These warlords have recently established an Ethiopian-sponsored Somali National Reconciliation Council aimed at challenging the government led by Abdiqasim Salad Hassan.