2 Italian nuns kidnapped in Kenya

MOGADISHU: Gunmen firing automatic weapons ragged two Italian Roman Catholic nuns from their home in rural Kenya on Monday and drove them into lawless Somalia in a rare cross-border kidnapping, officials said. The nuns, who are in their 60s, were working on hunger programmes in the northeastern town of El Wak, about 10 kilometre from the Somali border. The kidnapping highlights concerns among regional security officials that chaos in Somalia could lead to troubles in neighbouring Kenya, which is struggling to patrol the long and porous border. The early morning abduction began when six gunmen firing automatic weapons hurled a hand grenade and fired a rocket at Kenyan police, said Aden Mohamed Isaqm, a local aid worker. The gunmen then seized the nuns and drove them to the border in three stolen vehicles. "I have seen two expatriates in a car with militia surrounding them," said witness Shacban Mohamed Ali. "The two foreigners were very shocked." The desert border is hundreds of miles long and crossed by thousands of Somali refugees every month. American troops are training the Kenyan security forces in an effort to prevent extremists from crossing into the country. Both sides of the arid border region are plagued by banditry and clashes among ethnic groups fighting for grazing and water rights. A recent drought has heightened tensions in an area awash with weapons smuggled from Somalia into Kenya. The nuns, Maria Teresa Olevero and Catarina Giraudo, had been working in Kenya for decades and were among the few non-Muslims in town, the Catholic Information Service said.