MSF confirms deadly shooting incident

Madina hospital staff help to wheel an injured Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) personnel on a stretcher south of capital Mogadishu December 29, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

NAIROBI- At least one staff working for international medical charity, Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is believed to have been killed and another is in a very critical condition following the shooting incident in Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday, MSF regional official confirmed.

MSF Regional Information Officer Maimouna Jallow confirmed the incident from Nairobi, saying the shooting incident took place in the charity's compound. However, Jallow did not confirm the number of casualties.

"We confirm that a serious shooting incident has taken place in the MSF compound in Mogadishu. At this point we don't have more information about the scale and the extent of this incident," Jallow said late on Thursday.

She said the international medical charity was doing everything it can to ensure the security of its staff.

The latest incident comes as MSF was directing all efforts towards safe release of two Spanish workers who were kidnapped in Kenya in October.

The two Spanish women, Montserrat Serra, age 40, from Girona (Palafrugell) and Blanca Thiebaut, age 30, from Madrid, both working as logisticians for MSF  are believed to have been taken across the border into war-torn Somalia on October 13.

The abduction at the Dadaab refugee camp was the third incident of foreigners being abducted in the East African nation which neighbours the lawless Horn of Africa nation in just over a month.

The camps in Dadaab host 460,000 Somali refugees who fled their country because of hunger and war. MSF has been working in Somalia continuously since 1991. MSF is currently operating 14 projects in nine districts of Somalia.

Following the abduction both MSF and other aid agencies have announced suspension of all but life-saving relief efforts in Dadaab, home to some 460,000 mainly Somali refugees fleeing drought, famine or war, as they review the security situation.

MSF has however confirmed that it's providing assistance to people affected by the current crisis in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, despite the already highly complex security environment. As a result of the attack,

The medical charity has been working in Somalia continuously since 1991 and currently operates 13 projects in the country, including medical activities related to the current emergency, vaccination and nutritional interventions.