State intensifies efforts to rescue abducted chiefs

President William Ruto addresses residents at Moi Stadium in Mandera town. He has vowed to ensure the abducted chiefs are rescued from captivity in Somalia. [File, Standard]

The five chiefs and a child abducted by Al Shabaab in Mandera are still in captivity in Somalia as government makes frantic efforts to rescue them.

Initially, the insurgents had demanded a ransom of unknown amount, but this seems to have been dropped after elders from Kenya and Somalia intervened, according to a source.