Police Start Operations To Rescue 4 People Kidnapped In An Ambulance
Four people in an ambulance that was transporting a patient to a hospital in Elwak, Mandera County, were hijacked by Al-Shabaab terrorists on Tuesday evening.
Lydia Kadima 
According to police, the four people in the ambulance when the attack occurred included a patient, the ambulance driver, and two Lafey Sub-County hospital paramedics who were traveling to Elwak hospital for referral services.
The four were identified as 40-year-old patient Moulid Abdi, the driver Hassan Shaaban, Abdirashid Billow Hussein, and Aden Dai. The last two are also Lafey hospital employees.
George Seda, the head of North Eastern police, reported that the incident took place at about 5.50 p.m.
The four Kenyan passengers in the ambulance were taken by Al-Shabaab terrorists across the border into Somalia. Seda claimed that the victims were driven through Komar Qota, which is close to Wante, and into Somalia.
Officials engaged in the hunt are hopeful that the abducted Kenyans will be freed because they are all locals of Somali origin.
On April 12, 2019, two Cuban doctors, Drs. Assel Herrera Correa and Landy Rodriguez Hernandez were kidnapped in Mandera county by al-Shabaab terrorists. Such kidnapping incidents are frequent in Mandera County.
The two doctors were working at the Mandera County Referral Hospital and were being driven by a local man named Issack Ibrein Robow when they got abducted.
Rabow was later detained and accused of aiding in the two Cuban doctors' kidnapping and hostage-taking.
The two Cuban doctors who were kidnapped in Kenya and held for over a year in Somalia were released by Al Shabaab militants in October 2021 after months of negotiations.
Security authorities in Mandera have started an operation to rescue the four people kidnapped on Tuesday evening.
Onesmus Kyatha, the commissioner for Mandera County, claimed that the Somali government had been contacted and asked for assistance in rescuing the Kenyans.
The four are yet to be located, but Kyatha said that efforts were being made to find them through the use of local systems and security organizations.
