Armed Militants Storm Ambulance, Kidnap Two Medics, Patient
Their whereabouts remained unknown, more than six hours after the ambush.
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Suspected Al-Shabaab militants on Tuesday night, November 1 ambushed an ambulance which was rushing a patient to Elwak Sub-County Hospital in Mandera County.
The vehicle was reported to have four occupants; a paramedic, the driver, the patient and a relative and were on the way to the medical facility before the carjacking occurred.
"The four are the 40-year-old patient-Moulid Abdi, Hassan Shaaban (driver), Abdirashid Billow Hussein and Aden Dai, both staff at Lafey hospital," a police report read in part.
Al Shabaab soldiers in training. /AL JAZEERA
The incident that happened on Tuesday evening around 5.50 pm was reported by Ahmed Robie, a medical staff at Lafey Sub-County hospital said.
"They were carjacked by suspected militia and driven towards Somalia through Komar qota near Wante," police added.
Their whereabouts remained unknown, more than six hours after the ambush.
Reports added that the militants and the kidnapped victims were seen heading towards Somalia.
Head of Ambulance Services in Mandera County, Fatima Noor, while confirming the attack, revealed that investigations had commenced.
She however did not provide more comments as security forces took over the investigations.
Lafey Member of Parliament, Mohamed Abdiker condemned the incident and urged the government to expedite the case to restore peace in the area.
Despite security forces linking the attack to Al-Shabaab, the militant group was yet to claim responsibility for the attack.
In February 2022, multiple security forces launched a manhunt after a Kenyan doctor was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Fino, Mandera County.
Police said that the four armed men from Somalia abducted three people from the Fino Health Centre; that is, two locals from the area and one non-local.
KDF soldiers during a past mission. /FILE
