30 Jun 2012

International aid workers kidnapped in refugee camp

6:45 am on 30 June 2012

Gunmen in Kenya have kidnapped four international aid workers.

A Kenyan driver was killed in an ambush in the Dadaab refugee camp in the north of the country, which houses more than 450,000 Somalis.

The BBC reports that the foreigners are from Canada, Norway, Pakistan and the Philippines, who worked for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Deputy police chief Philip Ndolo said two vehicles in the convoy came under attack and one managed to get away.

Secretary general Elizabeth Rasmussen of the council was in the convoy, but was unharmed.

It is the first kidnapping of foreigners since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October against al Shabaab insurgents.

The camp is near the border with Somalia.