NAIROBI (Reuters) – Two paramedics, their driver and a patient who were abducted earlier this week in Kenya’s north-east have been freed, a local administrator said on Thursday.
The attackers, who police believe belonged to the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militia, ambushed the group while they were travelling in an ambulance to El Wak referral hospital, and drove them toward the border with Somalia.
“The four victims were freed following negotiations between local elders and administrators, who managed to ensure their release,” said Onesmus Kyatha, Mandera County Commissioner. “All of them are safe and sound.”
Reuters was not able to reach al Shabaab for comment as their spokespeople’s telephones were switched off.
While the frequency and severity of al Shabaab attacks in Kenya have lessened in recent years, the group has in the past used violence as part of a campaign to pressure the government into withdrawing its forces from Somalia.
Kenyan troops are part of the African-Union mandated peacekeeping force ATMIS that is helping defend Somalia’s central government from al Shabaab, which is fighting to establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Bill Berkrot)