Mogadishu,(insidesomalia.org)- The United Nations' humanitarian agency says more than 40 civilians have been killed in Somalia's capital this week.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs says in its weekly report on Somalia that about 20 civilians were killed Thursday as Ethiopian and Somalian soldiers battled insurgents in Mogadishu.

The UN agency says the abduction of a Somalian staff member of CARE International on Monday has raised the number of aid workers kidnapped in Somalia to eight, the UN agency said.

CARE International says in a statement it is suspending operations in the south central Somalia region of Galgudud following the abduction.

Somalia's shaky transitional government, formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, has been battling an insurgency by Islamic militants.

Thousands of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes, particularly in Mogadishu.

After Islamic militants seized control of Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia in 2006, the government called in troops from neighbouring Ethiopia to help oust them.

The insurgency that started soon after remains a potent and disruptive force, and a continuing threat to President Abdullahi Yusuf's government, which is backed by both the United States and European Union.

Somalia is also facing a worsening humanitarian crisis aggravated by high global food prices and drought. The United Nations has said 3.5 million Somalis will need humanitarian aid by the end of the year unless conditions improve.

The Horn of Africa country of seven million people has been in anarchy since warlords overthrew Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, and then turned on one another.