Nairobi, May 23  : Somali pirates have released MV Victoria, a cargo ship, they abducted on May 17 off the Somalia coast .

About a dozen crew members from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Tanzania are now free, said a maritime official.

Regional seafarers official Andrew Mwangura said that the ship was released on Friday at 12:50 pm local time (1520 IST). It is now travelling with a handful of Somali soldiers on board to ensure its safe passage.

Mogadishu  - Gunmen kidnapped two Italian aid workers and their Somali colleague in the the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia early Wednesday, local officials said.

New York - The

Nairobi  - A driver of an aid transport for the World Food Programme was shot dead at an illegal checkpoint in Somalia, a WFP spokesman reported on Thursday from Nairobi, Kenya.

Mogadishu  - Thousands of angry Somali protesters  took to the streets of Mog

Nairobi/Mogadishu  - The leader of the al-Shabaab militia in Somalia, Adan Hashi Ayro, was killed in an overnight airstrike on his house, according to media reports Thursday.