Officers rescue teacher kidnapped by Al Shabaab

A teacher who was abducted by suspected Al-Shabaab militants at Hagadera Refugee Camp in Dadaab was rescued yesterday morning.

Confirming the successful rescue mission, North Eastern Regional Coordinator Mohamud Saleh said a joint security operation was mounted on land and air.

The teacher was working for Windle Trust, an international NGO.

He said that during the rescue there were fierce shootouts between security officials and the kidnappers.

The faceoff resulted in the killing of one of the assailant while four of his accomplices escaped with gunshot wounds.

One of the security officers was slightly injured, the coordinator confirmed yesterday.

“Ms Judy Mutua, who has been in the hands of her abductors since Monday morning, was freed by Kenyan security personnel on Friday morning as the militants were about to cross the border in Dobley into the war-torn Somalia,” he said.

Saleh said the security officers were still in hot pursuit of the wounded militants.

He added: “We shall not rest until all the culprits are brought to book. They have been giving innocent Kenyans a difficult time.”

He said Mutua was on her way to Dadaab for a medical checkup before she proceeded home for a trauma healing break.

Locals and police sources at the Dadaab refugee’s camps told this writer that Judy was rescued alongside a local herder, Abdiwahid Musdhaf Abdiqadir, who had strayed into the group’s hideout on Thursday evening.