July 20 (Reuters) - Somali gunmen kidnapped three foreign aid workers at the weekend in a raid on a Kenyan border town, then went back into Somalia, rebels and residents said.Here is a timeline of recent kidnappings of foreigners being held in Somalia:
April 2008 - A Briton and a Kenyan working on a U.N.-funded project were seized by gunmen and taken to Jilib town, 280 km (175 miles) south of Mogadishu. They are still being held.
August - Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian freelance reporter, and Nigel Brennan, a freelance Australian photojournalist, were kidnapped in Mogadishu. A Somali journalist, Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, who was working as their interpreter, was also kidnapped. Elmi was released in Jan. 2009. The two journalists are still being held.
November - Gunmen stormed an air strip near Dusamareb town on Nov. 5 and kidnapped a number of aid workers. French-based Action Contre La Faim charity confirmed four of its people were taken. The EU said two Kenyans, two French, a Bulgarian and a Belgian national were among those kidnapped. July 2009 - Somali gunmen stormed into the Safahi hotel on July 14 in Mogadishu and kidnapped two French security consultants working for the government.
-- The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab movement took possession of both French hostages after winning a tussle with the Hizbul Islam rebel group which was holding one of them.
July - Three foreign aid workers were kidnapped on July 18, from the town of Mandera which straddles the Kenyan-Somali border. No group has claimed responsibility, but al Shabaab blamed members of another Islamist rebel group, Hizbul Islam, for the attack.
-- The aid organisation asked that its name and the nationalities of the hostages not be released. news ## for search indexer, do not remove
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