Terrorist organization al-Shabab is suspected of kidnapping two Cuban doctors in an ambush that left a police bodyguard dead in Mandera, Kenya, authorities said. Assel Herrera Correa, a specialist in general medicine, and Landy Rodriguez Hernandez, a surgeon, were taken early Friday morning while one their way to work at Mandera Hospital, the public health ministry in Cuba confirmed Friday.
The two doctors were traveling in a government vehicle with a police escort when two Toyota Probox cars blocked their way and opened fire, Kenyan police said. The suspects shot and killed an Administration Police Service officer before commandeering the vehicle and taking the doctors across the border into Somalia. The driver of the government vehicle has been detained for interrogation, Kenyan police said. Correa and Hernandez, who arrived in Mandera last summer, were popular doctors in the community due to their ability to offer rare treatments and surgeries to patients who traveled from across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia for care, according to Ohito.
Mandera is located in the northwest region of Kenya near the borders of Somalia and Ethiopia. The two doctors were featured in a piece on Kenya CitizenTV last year where they discussed potential safety concerns that came with their work in the area. Correa said at the time he had positive experiences working in other countries where the conditions were harsh, such as Venezuela. At least Cuban doctors have been brought to Kenya in an exchange program that saw about 50 Kenyans travel to Cuba for specialized training last year.
Ohito said the extremist group has not claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, though authorities believe the terror organization had a hand in the kidnapping. State Department. The department called al-Shabab a brutal and violent extremist group. The organization was behind the attack on an upscale hotel and office complex in Nairobi in January that killed 14 people. She has not been found.
Today we have been reminded, again, of the evil machinations of international criminal networks. Two Cuban doctors were abducted in Mandera, while on their way to work and a security officer fatally injured.
