11.   Five U.N. aid workers were kidnapped Thursday at a regional airport in Somalia as they prepared to leave the war-torn country, a U.N. official said.

12.   He said the aid workers were kidnapped in retaliation.

13.   In July, an American aid worker was kidnapped in central Somalia, but escaped unharmed the same day.

14.   In Oslo, Norway, Magne Barth, the director of international operations, indicated that he knew who kidnapped the workers.

15.   In the past, gunmen have kidnapped aid workers because they believed their subclans were not getting enough jobs or goods from aid agencies.

16.   IRNA did not say how many workers had been kidnapped.

17.   Last week, five Polish aid workers were kidnapped in Chechnya despite being escorted by Chechen government guards.

18.   Leftist guerrillas frequently sabotage oil pipelines and other equipment, occasionally kidnap oil workers and try to extort money from oil companies.

19.   Last Friday, a U.S. aid worker was kidnapped in central Somalia but escaped unharmed the same day.

20.   Last week, the U.N. refugee agency scaled back its operations along the Guinea-Liberia border after its senior diplomat there was killed and another worker was kidnapped.