Aid staff withdrawn from Somalia

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Medecins Sans Frontieres says it is withdrawing all its international staff from Somalia after three of its workers were killed by a bomb this week.

The medical agency said it was outraged by what appeared to be an organised attack on its staff in Kismayo.

MSF says the quality of its health care will drop - for example there will be less access to free surgery in Kismayo.

The pull-out comes shortly after a member of the Mogadishu regional government was shot dead.

Abbas Mohammad Nur, the mayor's acting spokesman, is believed to have been targeted because of his opposition to the Islamist insurgency against the Ethiopian-backed interim government.

We find this attack absolutely intolerable Christophe Fournier President MSF International Council

On Monday three MSF staff members - a Kenyan surgeon, a French logistics expert and a Somali driver - were killed when their vehicle hit a land mine near the hospital where they worked in the southern port town of Kismayo.

The President of MSF's International Council, Christophe Fournier, said the attack against MSF staff was absolutely intolerable, and a serious violation of the humanitarian action to which those who died were so committed.

He added that although MSF's Somali colleagues would continue with their life-saving work, the withdrawal would affect the Somali population.

Eighty-seven international staff have been withdrawn from 14 projects across the country.

MSF has worked in Somalia for more than 16 years.

The majority of the international staff have gone to neighbouring Kenya.

No date has been set for their return.

There has been no functioning national government in Somalia for 17 years.

The UN says that 60% of the Mogadishu population has fled the city because of fighting between Islamists and pro-government forces.