MOGADISHU, (insidesomalia.org) - An employee for the U.N. refugee agency in Somalia was taken from his home overnight by armed men, the agency said Sunday.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees employee was «taken away by armed men, » said Millicent Mutuli, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR in neighboring Kenya. She said it was not

Immediately clear if the person had been kidnapped and had no further details.

Relatives identified the worker as Hassan Mohamed Ali, a Somali who lives just outside the capital, Mogadishu, with his family.
«Six gunmen broke into his home last night and took him,» said Khilif Aden, a relative who spoke to Ali's wife.

There have been a string of kidnappings in Somalia in recent months. Earlier this year, Doctors without Borders pulled out its foreign staff from Somalia after two of them were kidnapped, and three foreigners and a Somali were killed when their car hit a land mine.

Somali insurgents have been battling the shaky transitional government since Somali soldiers and their Ethiopian allies ousted them from the capital in December 2006. The Islamists had ruled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other. The conflict between the government and the Islamists is complicated by a web of clan loyalties and the involvement of archenemies Eritrea and Ethiopia, which use Somalia as a proxy battleground.