Bungled kidnapping, shooting kill 4 in Somalia

A bungled kidnapping and a checkpoint shooting claimed the lives of four people in the southern Somali port of Kismayu on Sunday, locals said.

Somalia's second largest city has been largely spared the bloody violence from an insurgency ravaging the capital Mogadishu in recent months. But violence continues to be rampant across the nation, without central rule since 1991.

Local rights worker Ali Bashi told Reuters three killings came after the attempted abduction of a child.

"A man kidnapped a 4-year-old boy. He was chased ... The kidnapper was injured, but he shot a man and a woman at the same time. At least the boy was released unharmed," Bashi, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.

The man and woman died on the spot, and the kidnapper died of his injuries, he said.

In a separate clash, a man was shot dead north of the city.

"One man was killed in a checkpoint 12 km to the north of Kismayu at 1.30 pm," said resident Mohamed Bule. No other details of that incident were available.

Somalia's interim government routed an Islamist movement, which had been in control of Mogadishu and most of the south, at the New Year. But the government is struggling to impose law and order on the Horn of Africa nation of about 9 million people.