Photo: Abdullahi Salahi Salat/IRIN

The abducted aid workers were running a nutritional programme for children

NAIROBI , 6 November 2008 (IRIN) - The UN has called for the immediate release of four aid workers and two pilots who were abducted on 5 November in central Somalia 's Galgadud region.

Unidentified gunmen abducted the six from an airstrip near the town of Dusamareb .

"The Secretary-General most strongly condemns the abduction of four aid workers and two pilots," said a statement issued by the UN headquarters in New York .

An aid worker in Dusamareb, who requested anonymity, said the four were employees of a French NGO, Action Against Hunger, and were running a nutritional programme for children.

"Three vehicles with about 20 armed men came on to the airstrip and took them," said the aid worker.

The aid worker said the team was driven toward the town of Eil Buur , about 100km southeast of Dusamareb.

Mahamud Nur Antoobo, an elder in Dusamareb, told IRIN residents were "extremely angry" and wanted the aid workers released. He said the abductors should release the six immediately.

"These people were our guests and they were here to help us," he said. "Attacking them is like attacking us."

Antoobo said elders were meeting to discuss how best to ensure the aid workers' release. "We will do anything and everything to get them back."