NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov, 4 – Four Kenyans among them two paramedics, a driver, and a patient who were abducted by Al Shabaab militants in El-Wak near the Kenya-Somalia border have been released.
They were abducted on Tuesday.
“The …. ambulance (was) en route to Elwak hospital for referral with a patient … and … in the company of hospital staff,” Mandera’s Lafey police station said in a report late on Tuesday.
“They were carjacked by suspected AS (al Shabaab) militia and driven towards Somalia … They are not in communication at now due to network issues.”
According to police, they were released on Thursday and have since been reunited with their family. Lafey MCA Adan Hussein Rahoy confirmed the victims had been released and arrived home safely.
It is believed that local elders negotiated their release with o ransom being paid.
Police also said that the victim’s ambulance is still in the possession of the militants.
According to North Eastern police boss, George Seda attempts are being made to recover the ambulance.
While the frequency and severity of al Shabaab attacks in Kenya have reduced in recent years, the group has in the past targeted security personnel, schools, vehicles, towns, and telephone infrastructure in northeast and eastern Kenya as part of their campaign to pressure Kenya into withdrawing its forces from Somalia.
Kenyan troops are part of the African-Union-mandated peace keeping force ATMIS that is helping defend Somalia’s central government from al Shabaab.
Al Shabaab has been fighting for more than a decade to topple Somalia’s central government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
On Saturday, twin car bomb attacks that al Shabaab claimed responsibility for in the Somali capital killed at least 120 people.
The group has been under pressure in Somalia since August when President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud began an offensive against them, supported by the United States and allied local militias, in a bid to disrupt their financial network.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
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