Aid workers kidnapped from Kenyan refugee camp

Two women working for Médecins sans Frontières at Dadaab camp believed to have been taken by Somali insurgents Gunmen in Kenya have kidnapped two aid workers from the Dadaab refugee camp near the Somalian border. Kenyan police say they suspect that Somalia’s al-Shabaab insurgents, who have links with al-Qaida, took the two women, who were working for Médecins sans Frontières (MSF). Police have sealed the border between the two countries. “Two female aid workers working for MSF were this afternoon kidnapped by suspected al-Shabaab militants in Dadaab refugee camp in Garissa,” the North Eastern province’s police commander, Leo Nyongesa, told Reuters. “We’ve mobilised all the officers and alerted those at the border to ensure that no vehicle exits the country to Somalia. The whole border area is now sealed,” he said. MSF confirmed the attack on its staff on Thursday morning and said a driver had been injured. “He’s currently hospitalised and stable. Two international staff are missing. A crisis team has been set up to deal with this incident,” a statement said. The kidnapping follows earlier separate incidents in which two western female tourists were snatched from beach resorts in northern Kenya and taken to Somalia. Dadaab was set up in 1991 to house Somalis fleeing violence in their country. It has since grown to become the world’s biggest refugee camp with more than 400,000 residents. Kenya Africa Somalia Global terrorism Aid guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 13, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.