Kenya moves Cuban doctors away from border after abductions

NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenyan officials say Cuban doctors deployed along the border with Somalia are being evacuated following the kidnapping last week of two Cuban doctors.

Suspected Islamic extremists kidnapped two Cuban doctors in Mandera County on Friday as they were heading to work, killing one of their police bodyguards.

Lamu County officer in charge of health Anne Gathoni said Monday that the remaining Cuban doctors had been evacuated from Lamu because they had been traumatized by the kidnapping of their colleagues.

The two, an orthopedic surgeon and a physician, had been deployed to Lamu by the government in July, 2018. Somalia’s al-Shabab extremist rebels are suspected of carrying out the kidnapping. The extremist group has vowed retribution against Kenya for sending troops to Somalia to fight the militants.