The Ugandan military said on early Wednesday that the Somali state minister for defense was in the hands of the Uganda People Defense Force (UPDF).

It was revealed by Ugandan military spokesman Felix Kulayigye.

Kulayigye dismissed the allegation that Somali State Minister for Defense Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siyad was kidnapped in the Ugandan capital of Kampala by unidentified gunmen. "He was in the hands of the UPDF," the spokesman told Xinhua by phone.

No further details was available so far.

Somalia has not had strong functioning national government since the ouster of former ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

The development came after three aid workers kidnapped two months ago have been released by their captors last week in Somalia.

Mohamed Osman Arus, spokesman for the Islamist Hezbul Islam faction, said the humanitarian workers were released and flown out of the faction-controlled southern town of Luq.

Arus denied his group was involved in the abduction of the three aid workers in a cross border raid into Kenya in July, but said the group "facilitated" the negotiations to release them.

Several other foreign and Somali hostages, including journalists and aid workers, are still being held in the war-torn Horn of Africa country by local armed groups who demand payment of ransom for their release.