DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle

Somali gunmen have released the local head of the UN refugee agency who was seized in June near Mogadishu. A UN spokesman said Hassan Mohammed Ali was in good health and released unconditionally. Abductions are common in Somalia, where an interim government and its Ethiopian military allies have been battling Islamist insurgents since the start of last year.A Canadian freelance journalist and an Australian freelance photojournalist were kidnapped on Saturday in the same area where Ali was seized, in Elasha, southwest of the capital Mogadishu.