Ms. Silvia Constanca Romano, an Italian aid worker abducted by the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab in Kenya, nearly two years ago, was released.
The Italian aid volunteer was abducted by Al-Shabaab gun at Chakama in Kilifi County in November 2018. The news of her release was revealed by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Saturday, April 9.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on his official Twitter account, announced the release Ms. Romano and lauded the intelligence assets for her release without giving out much details.
“Silvia Romano has been released. I thank the women and men of the external intelligence services. Silvia, we are waiting for you in Italy,” he wrote in a tweet, as loosely translated from his native, Italian.
Corresponding reports indicate that Ms. Romano was released by her kidnappers and was recovered from a forest near the town of Afgoye, 30 kilometers west of Mogadishu. She spent overnight in a safe location in Mogadishu before being flown home.
Trained as a medic, Ms. Romano was working for a non-governmental organization; African Milele Onlus, which was operating in Kilifi, a tiny county within Kenya’s coastal strip when she was abducted,
During this incident, at least five residents were left nursing serious gun wounds, with the militants fleeing into vast Boni forest before crossing over to Somalia.
Despite frequently security patrols along the border prefectures with Somalia, Al-Shabaab remains a major security threat, sporadically, conducts surprise attacks and retreating to Somalia.
