Somali Villagers Save Abducted Aid Workers
Villagers rescued five kidnapped aid workers in Somalia in a gun battle that left one village boy in a coma, UNICEF workers said Friday.
Police took the 10 kidnappers into custody, said Pierce Gerety, the relief agency’s Nairobi-based Somalia representative.
The five aid workers--one each from the United States, Britain, Nepal, India and Sudan--were abducted Thursday. When the kidnappers’ van and pickup truck passed through the village of Farsaley, villagers who had heard about the abduction on the radio shot at the kidnappers to stop them. The boy was injured in the return fire.
Villagers surrounded the van and forced the gunmen to pass their weapons out of the windows, Gerety said, quoting a hostage.
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