Kidnapped aid workers rescued by Somali militia

Four aid workers kidnapped at gunpoint from Kenya’s largest refugee camp arrived back in Nairobi yesterday after a pro-government Somali militia group rescued the four, who were being held inside Somalia.

“We are happy. We are back. We are alive and we are happy this has ended,” said Qurat-Ul-Ain Sadazai, one of the four.

Elisabeth Rasmusson, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s secretary general, told a news conference in Oslo that she was relieved the four had been released.

Abdinasir Serar, a representative with the Ras Kamboni militia in Somalia, said his group heard of Friday’s kidnapping in the Dadaab refugee camp and pursued the kidnappers, catching up with them on Monday about 35 miles inside Somalia.

Ras Kamboni’s leader, Ahmed Madobe, said his men killed one of the kidnappers but that the other three escaped.

Ras Kamboni works alongside Somali government and Kenyan military forces. Kenya sent troops to Somalia last October to hunt al-Shabaab militants.

Four gunmen attacked a two-vehicle convoy from the Norwegian Refugee Council on Friday, killing one Kenyan driver and wounding two other Kenyans. The gunmen took one of the vehicles – later abandoned – and the four workers.