Doctors Without Borders says it plans to return to Somalia, more than three years after closing its operations in the turbulent country.

The medical aid charity known by the French acronym MSF says its return to the Horn of Africa country will be a cautious one.

The charity pulled out of Somalia in August 2013 after 22 years of operations there. It cited "extreme attacks on its staff" in an environment where armed groups and civilian leaders increasingly allowed or condoned killings, assaults and abductions of humanitarian workers.

Somalia is trying to rebuild after decades of chaos that began in 1991 when warlords overthrew a longtime dictator. Extremist group al-Shabab continues to launch deadly attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere, threatening the country's first functioning central government in years.