Somali govt troops storm Mogadishu UN office

MOGADISHU, Oct 17 (Reuters) Somali government troops stormed UN offices in Mogadishu today and arrested a World Food Programme (WFP) aid worker, officials said.

''UN-WFP can confirm that Mr Idris Osman was detained in Mogadishu,'' WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said in Nairobi.

''WFP is urgently taking his detention up with the authorities,'' he told Reuters.

Osman, a Somali, is head of WFP operations in Mogadishu.

The UN food agency has previously complained that months of fighting between Islamist gunmen and joint Somali-Ethiopian forces have severely impaired aid deliveries.

In April, the interim government promised the United Nations it would clear obstacles to providing badly-needed aid to thousands of Somalis uprooted by the conflict.

REUTERS PD BD1455