Several days after two Cuban doctors attached to the Mandera County Referral Hospital were abducted by Al-Shabaab insurgents, reports indicate that they crossed the Somalia border.
According to a Voice of America (VOA), the missing Cuban doctors, Landy Rodriguez (a surgeon) and Herera Correa (general practitioner) are being held by the insurgents in El Adde town.
Issuing the revelations via his verified Twitter account, Harun Maruf, a VOA journalist said that Mandera elders have confirmed that the abducted duo is in El Adde.
"Regarding the abduction of Cuban doctors, I spoke to the Mandera elders and they told me they are trying to seek the release of the two doctors using customs and traditions. They’ve been told the doctors are held in El-Adde, an Al-Shabaab-controlled town in Gedo, Somalia" Maruf wrote.
The abducted doctors were abducted on Friday morning en route to work.
During the incident, one of their security details was shot dead as another escaped unhurt. More reports indicated that two Toyota Probox vehicles blocked their County government vehicle before they were abducted.
The driver of the county vehicle has since been arrested and remanded as investigations continue. Meanwhile, police are going on with multiagency operation in a bid to rescue the doctors.
Elders from Mandera were also sent to Somalia to negotiate their release.