UN Employee Killed in Somalia Capital

MOGADISHU - Unidentified gunmen shot dead an employee of the UN refugee agency in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Monday, in an attack that also left another person dead, a UN statement said.

"It is with great sadness that UNHCR has learned of the killing of one of our colleagues, Amina Noor Mohamed, this afternoon in Mogadishu, Somalia," the UNHCR statement said.

The Geneva-based agency said Mohammed was killed by unknown gunmen while travelling in a private vehicle driven by a staff member from a UNHCR partner organization who also lost his life in the attack.

While there was no indication of who was responsible, aid workers including UN staffers have previously been targeted by Shebab Islamist militants battling a weak, Western-backed government.

UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres said the attack serves as another stark reminder of the dangers many humanitarian workers face in their daily work. Four UN workers were killed in April when Shebab members set off a huge bomb that ripped through a staff bus in the northeastern town of Garowe.

The UN statement said Mohammed, who had worked in Mogadishu since 2011, left behind two young children, aged two and three months.