KAMPALA (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped Somalia's state minister for defence during a visit to Uganda on Tuesday, bundling him into a car in the capital Kampala, relatives and a Somali government minister said.
Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad, a former warlord also known as "Inda'ade" or "white eyes," was snatched from a home where family members were staying. Uganda provides about half the troops for an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
"Unidentified armed men forced him into a car then drove him away. He was in Kampala visiting his children," a relative who asked to be identified as Ahmed told Reuters in Mogadishu.
"I'm afraid the kidnappers are Islamists. He will not survive. There are many al Shabaab members in Kenya and Uganda," he said, referring to the Somali Islamist insurgent group.
Somali Security Minister Abdullahi Mohamed confirmed his colleague had been abducted in Kampala and said the Somali government hoped Inda'ade would be freed soon.
"It is not clear who is behind it, but Uganda's government is investigating this shocking incident," Mohamed told Reuters.
Ugandan government officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Uganda's army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Felix Kulayigye, said he was checking the reports.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema and Justin Dralaze in Kampala, Abdi Shiekh in Mogadishu and Abdiaziz Hassan and Sahra Abdi in Nairobi; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Charles Dick)