Friday April 12, 2019
The doctors were travelling to work under a police escort when they were ambushed / Reuters
NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police said Friday they are
interrogating one suspect in connection with the abduction of two Cuban
doctors in Mandera town in northeast Kenya near the Somali border by
suspected al-Shabab militants.
Charles Owino, spokesman for Kenya's National Police Service said the
suspect who is a driver of the two medics will be questioned on the
incident in which a police officer who was guarding the two foreigners
was killed.
"They were abducted on their way to work and the vehicle that was
ferrying the doctors has been recovered. We have arrested the driver who
is currently being interrogated," he told journalists in Nairobi.
Owino said the two, Assel Herera Correa and Landy Rodriguez, were
heading to Mandera County Referral Hospital which is their work station
before the ambush at around 9 am.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in Mandera following the
abduction. There are reports of gunshots being heard in the border area
as the military moved to the scene in search of the victims.
The two medics are among 100 Cuban specialists who arrived in the
country in June 2018 as a bilateral arrangement between Kenya and Cuban
governments.
Ali Roba, Mandera County governor said the assailants blocked their
vehicle with a saloon car before alighting and opening fire on their
bodyguards, killing one instantly.
"The officer lost his life in line of duty protecting the lives of
our Cuban doctors. While I believe that all efforts are being done by
our government to pursue the attackers, we would like to appeal to them
to do whatever it takes to save the lives of our Cuban doctors and bring
them back from captivity," Roba said.
The fate of the two doctors remains unknown but security agencies led
by the military are inside Somalia pursuing the attackers and victims.