Kidnapped Pinoy in Kenya safe

NAIROBI, Kenya – Filipino aid worker Glenn Costes, who was kidnapped along with 3 others in Kenya last week, has been “recovered,” according to Kenyan authorities.

“They are safe in our hands, they have been freed,” Kenyan army spokesperon Curus Oguna told Agence-France Presse.

“They were released in a joint force of Somali and Kenyan forces, during which one of the kidnappers was killed,” he said. Three others were arrested.

The other aid workers come from Canada and Norway, the fourth being being a dual national from Canada and Pakistan.

‘Exhausted’

One has a bullet wound to the leg but they are otherwise unharmed, reported AFP.

“They are exhausted, they have walked far and have blisters, and one of the aid workers was shot in the leg, but otherwise they are in good health,” Oguna said, adding they were now in the southern Somali border town of Dhobley.

“They are receiving medical attention at our base while they await transfer back to Kenya,” Oguna added.

Mohamed Dini Adan, a Somali military commander in Dhobley, said the army had stopped the “kidnappers who were trying to hide and sneak past the army.”

Somali forces heard reports the gunmen were heading for a dense area of remote forest some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Dhobley, and rushed to chase them down.

“Thanks to God we foiled their aims of taking the hostages into the forest,” said Somali General Osmail Sahardid, who led the operation, adding that three of the gunmen had been captured.

Residents in Dhobley said the local Ras Kamboni militia — commanded by a former powerful Islamist warlord now allied to Kenya — were also involved in the rescue.

A Kenyan driver was killed and two others were wounded during Friday’s attack.

Kenyan security forces scrambled military helicopters and aircraft after gunmen attacked the NRC convoy at around midday Friday, while vehicles and troops on foot searched the remote scrubland either side of the porous border with Somalia.

However, the aid workers’ vehicle, which the gunmen stole after killing the driver, was found abandoned a few hours after the attack, and fears grew the gang had escaped with the aid workers into Somalia.

Kenya, which invaded southern Somalia in October to attack Al-Qaeda linked Islamist insurgents, has troops some 120 kilometres (75 miles) deep into Somalia. However, the forces control only pockets of the vast territory.

The kidnapping was the latest in a series of attacks in Dadaab, where gunmen last October seized two Spaniards working for Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). They are still being held hostage in Somalia.

DFA to assist Costes

The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) have been informed that Costes has been recovered.

“DFA just got a call from Philippine Ambassador Domingo Lucenario in Nairobi that at 1:40 p.m. (Manila time) he was informed by the Norweigian Refugee Council that Contes and his three colleagues were recovered in the Kenya-Somali border, are safe and are now on their way to Nairobi,” DFA spokesperson Raul Hernadez told reporters in a text message.

“Ambassador Lucenario will meet with Mr. Costes upon his arrival in Nairobi and is prepared to extend assistance to him. Mr. Costes will undergo a medical checkup and debriefing,” Hernandez added. – with Agence-France Presse