Hudur, (insidesomalia.org)-Three UN aid workers kidnapped in Somalia have been freed; the mine clearing experts from Sweden and Denmark, along with a local colleague were released on Saturday.

They were abducted on the same day when fighters attacked the town of Hodur, 370km west of the capital, Mogadishu.

These expatriates were abducted from the International Medical Corps (IMC) complex in Hodur the headquarters of Bakool region, and that local elders negotiated with the Islamic courts Union who have taken this UN workers as hostages

"The Danish and the Swedish workers were released ... without ransom and they are safe waiting for a flight to Nairobi," said Mohamed Nur Salad, a UN security and safety worker.

Local residents and aid workers said the fighters attacked the town around 4.30am but then withdrew.

Hassan Mohamed, a local resident, said the fighters wounded a district commander during an exchange of gunfire in which a bodyguard was killed and four others sustained injuries.

"They took control of the town and they also raided the IMC compound and took two foreign aid workers," he said.

The Dane and the Swede were working for Raddningsverket, a risk assessment and emergency management agency funded by the Swedish government.

They were carrying out a de-mining training mission for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Saturday's abductions are the latest in a series involving humanitarian workers. The fate of six aid workers - two Italians, one British national, a Kenyan and three Somalis - kidnapped in April remains unknown.

Aid groups have scaled down operations in Somalia due increased insecurity, largely blamed on Islamist fighters who have waged a war since they were ousted by joint Somali-Ethiopian forces in early 2007.

The African Union has deployed 2,600 peacekeepers in Somalia - well short of a promised 8,000 troops - but so far has failed to stem the violence and unrest.

At least 2.6 million Somalis are facing hunger due to acute food shortages spurred by a prolonged drought, insecurity and high inflation.