Pinoy, 3 others seized in Kenya

NAIROBI – Kenyan security forces on Saturday scoured border regions with war-torn Somalia in the hunt for armed kidnappers who seized four aid workers from Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp.

The two men and two women who work with the Norwegian Refugee Council ( NRC) come from Canada, Norway, Pakistan and the Philippines. A Kenyan driver was killed and two others were wounded during Friday’s attack.

“The search is intensifying and more security forces have been sent to make every effort possible but, so far, no one has been recovered,” Kenyan army spokesman

Cyrus Oguna told AFP.

Aerial searches were ongoing using both military helicopters and aircraft, while vehicles and troops on foot searched the remote scrubland on either side of the porous border with Somalia.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has confirmed that a Filipino aid worker was kidnapped in Kenya, identifying him as Glenn Costes.

DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said the Philippine embassy in Nairobi has requested Kenyan authorities for assistance for the rescue of Costes.

Kenya, which invaded southern Somalia in October to attack al-Qaeda linked Islamist insurgents, has troops some 120 kilometers deep into Somalia. However, the forces control only pockets of the vast territory.

But despite fears the gunmen and their hostages would head for Somalia – some 100 kilometers from Dadaab – Oguna said he was still hopeful they remained inside Kenya.

“We are thinking that they are in Kenya, we are making every effort that we can, and we are hopeful of a positive outcome,” he added.

The aid workers’ vehicle, which the gunmen stole after killing the driver, was found abandoned a few hours after the attack.

NRC is working to support some 465,000 inhabitants in the Dadaab complex, which constitutes Kenya’s third-biggest town in terms of population.

The kidnapping is 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. –