MOGADISHU, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) worker on Thursday as his team distributed aid in Somalia's anarchic capital Mogadishu, the second staff member murdered this week.

Attacks on aid workers are common in Somalia, where fighting between Islamist insurgents and the Western-backed government has killed more than 16,000 civilians since the start of 2007.

"Gunmen shot and killed a staff member, the second in three days, as they carried out food distribution at Daynile," said Peter Smerdon, WFP spokesman in Kenya.

Resident Halima Ahmed told Reuters the attackers struck as the WFP team handed out supplies in the area, which is 10 kms (6 miles) north of the city.

"They opened fire and hijacked the official's car after killing him. They also took guns from his bodyguards," she said.

A WFP food monitor was shot dead on Tuesday by masked gunmen at a school near a town in the southwestern region of Gedo. (Reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed and Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by David Clarke)

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