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Gunmen kidnap Italian aid worker in Kenya Gunmen kidnap Italian aid worker in Kenya
(about 4 hours later)
Gunmen have kidnapped an Italian volunteer in south-east Kenya and shot five people, police said, in the first abduction of a foreigner since a series of raids blamed on Somali Islamist militants six years ago. Gunmen have kidnapped an Italian aid worker and shot and wounded a woman and four children in Kenya, police and witnesses said, in the first abduction of a foreigner in the country since raids blamed on Somali Islamist militants six years ago.
Men armed with AK-47 rifles attacked the town of Chakama and seized a 23-year-old woman who was working for the Italian charity Africa Milele Onlus, the national police service added. Men armed with AK-47 rifles seized the 23-year-old woman from a guesthouse in Chakama, a small town close to the southeast coast, late on Tuesday, officers and local residents said.
The attackers, who spoke Somali, opened fire on people fleeing the scene, Chad Joshua Kazungu, a witness, told Reuters by phone. “There were three attackers and they targeted the Italian lady,” he said. Police said they had not identified the attackers and no group immediately claimed responsibility. Italy’s foreign ministry named the woman as Silvia Romano.
Five people were wounded, including a 10-year-old shot in the eye and a 12-year-old hit in the thigh, police said. They were taken to hospital. The Italian charity that Romano was working for, Africa Milele, posted a short message on its website saying: “There are no words to comment on what is happening. Silvia, we are all with you.” The group says it helps orphaned children.
Chakama, in Kenya’s Kilifi region, is 40 miles (60 km) inland from the coastal tourist resort of Malindi. Two witnesses told Reuters they heard the gunmen speaking Somali. “There were three attackers and they targeted the Italian lady,” said Chad Joshua Kazungu.
Police said they had still not identified the attackers and their motives were unclear. The woman was seized after she came out of her room to find out what was going on, a third, unnamed witness told Kenyan TV channel KTN News. “Their aim was to get money but they took off with her to the river,” he said.
Another unnamed witness told Kenyan TV channel KTN News that the attackers grabbed the woman as she came out of her room to find out what was going on. The attackers opened fire as they left, wounding a woman and four children, he added. A 10-year-old child was shot in the eye and a 12-year-old was hit in the thigh, police said.
“Their aim was to get money but they took off with her to the river and, before leaving the village, they started shooting in the air and they shot one woman and four boys,” the witness said. On Wednesday a police helicopter circled over the green and yellow guesthouse where the volunteer had been staying. Chakama in Kenya’s Kilifi region is 40 miles (60km) inland from the bustling coastal tourist resort of Malindi.
Tourist numbers and earnings plunged sharply from 2012 to 2016 as militants from the al-Shabaab group in neighbouring Somalia launched a series of attacks on Kenyan soil in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia. A series of abductions further north in 2011 and 2012 - and other attacks by al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants from neighbouring Somalia - caused a slump in tourism numbers and revenue.
A number of foreigners were kidnapped on the coast in 2011 and 2012 but none have been abducted since. Local tour operators said they thought Tuesday’s attack would have only a limited impact on the vital tourism industry.
The Italian embassy in Nairobi declined to comment on Tuesday’s abduction and referred callers to the foreign ministry in Rome. “The European market might have a small shake-up, but Malindi is 500km from Nairobi so I don’t expect the safari industry to be affected,” said Robert Katithi, sales director from Go Kenya Tours and Safaris.
There was no immediate comment from the charity, which, according to its website, was founded in 2011 by an Italian couple after they honeymooned in Africa. Gunmen grabbed a French woman from her home on the northern island of Manda in 2011 weeks after pirates killed a British man and kidnapped his wife from another resort island. The French woman died while she was still being held, while the English woman was released after a ransom was paid.
Chakama is nearly 185 miles (300 km) south-west of the Kenya-Somalia border. At the time, the Kenyan government blamed al-Shabaab - which launched attacks inside Kenya in retaliation for Nairobi’s military interventions in Somalia. The militants denied responsibility.
Armed men kidnapped four aid workers and killed a driver at Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp near the border with Somalia in 2012.
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