MOGADISHU , Somalia ( CNN ) -- Gunmen attacked a convoy Sunday in Somalia and took several hostages , including two foreign aid workers from the group Doctors Without Borders . Medecins San Frontieres workers , shown here , were abducted and released in March in Sudan . Local staff said a three-car convoy was traveling from Rabbure to Hudur in southwestern Somalia , escorted by local bodyguards , when gunmen seized the group . The district commissioner of Rabbure said the only people released were elders accompanying the staff , with the local and international staff kept as hostages . Doctors Without Borders , widely known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres , did not immediately release the identities or nationalities of the hostages . MSF is an international medical group that works in more than 60 countries . It says it helps people `` threatened by violence , neglect , or catastrophe . '' Michel Peremans , international coordinator for operational communications for MSF Belgium , which operates in the region , confirmed that the organization had lost contact with two of its staff in Somalia . Rabbure is in the Bakole region , which is under the control of the group al-Shabaab , considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department . Al-Shabaab was once the armed wing of the Islamic Courts Union , which took over most of southern Somalia in the second half of 2006 . The United States says the group is affiliated with the al Qaeda terrorist network , and the U.S. backed an Ethiopian invasion that drove the ICU from power in 2006 . The ICU 's former leader , Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed , became president after Ethiopian troops withdrew in January . Al-Shabaab rejected the peace agreement that led to the Ethiopian withdrawal and is now fighting Sheikh Ahmed 's government . Attacks on aid workers in the region are common , and U.N. staff came under attack this year . In Sudan , on the other side of Ethiopia , four workers from Medecins Sans Frontieres were abducted in March and released a few days later . All four -- an Italian doctor , a Canadian nurse , a French coordinator and a Sudanese guard -- worked for the Belgian section of the humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres . Sudan last month ordered 13 major aid groups to leave the country after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir , accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity . CNN 's Mohammed Amin and Carol Jordan contributed to this report .
Gunman seized convoy in southwestern Somalia , let elders go , abducted workers . Doctors without Borders has not yet released the names of those abducted . Attacks on aid workers are common in the region .