Three suspects held in murder of aid worker

Police in Mogadishu have arrested three men suspected of involvement in the murder two weeks ago of a Swiss aid worker in the town of Marka, a police spokesman told IRIN on Monday.

Colonel Muhammad Yusuf Madale said the three suspects had been brought back to Mogadishu by investigators sent by the Transitional National Government to Marka. "We believe that one of those in custody is the gunman who pulled the trigger," he said.

He said police were still looking for another individual, who "could be the second gunman". Madale added that police were also continuing with their investigations and were "actively looking for other individuals who may have had a hand in the murder". "Three senior CID [criminal investigations department] officers are working round the clock to bring to book all those who were involved in this, directly or indirectly," he added.

Seventy-year old Verena Karer, who arrived in Marka as a volunteer nurse in 1993, at the height of the famine in Somalia, was murdered by gunmen on 22 February, in the compound of a secondary school she had built and opened late last year.

Karer, who was funded by 'New Way', a women's organisation in Switzerland, was also running a primary school and a clinic in the town.