NAIROBI, Oct 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two Cuban doctors who were kidnapped in Kenya’s northeast in April 2019 and taken over the border to Somalia by suspected Al-Shabaab militants have been released, a police official said.
“It is true they have been freed. The doctors are now safe,” a senior Kenyan police officer said.
Assel Herrera and Landy Rodriguez — a general practitioner and a surgeon — were abducted in Mandera, near the border of Somalia.
One of two police officers escorting the doctors to work was shot dead by the attackers, who sped off toward Somalia with their captives.
Herrera and Rodriguez were part of a 100-member Cuban medical brigade working in Kenya under an agreement between the two countries.
A top government official said in May 2019 the kidnappers were demanding $1.5 million for their release.
Cuban officials said in December that both Kenya and Cuba were making “huge efforts” to get the doctors released but declined to elaborate on the location of the pair, nor steps that were being taken for the release.
Kenyan police said the kidnapping bore the hallmarks of Al-Shabaab, a militant outfit that has been waging an insurgency against Somalia’s foreign-backed government for over a decade.
Attacks over the border in Kenya, especially around Mandera in the northeast, are not uncommon.
On Tuesday, Kenyan police said suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen ambushed a bus outside Mandera, shooting and wounding seven passengers. — NNN-AGENCIES
