BREAKING: Italian nuns kidnapped by Somali gang

Several news services are reporting the adbudction of two Italian nuns by heavily armed Somali bandits in northern Kenya. Reportedly they have been taken across the border.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - According to several news services, two Italian nuns have been kidnapped by Somali bandits in Kenya. The following comes from Sebastien Berger in Johannesburg, reporting for the London Telegraph:

The women were seized from their home in Elwak, in Kenya's far north east and less than two miles from the frontier with lawless Somalia, the Kenyan Red Cross said. A number of vehicles were also stolen.

"The gunmen forced them into a car and drove them away and nobody knows their whereabouts," said Hussein Dhegey, who lives in the area.

The nuns, who are members of the Little Sisters of Jesus order, were named in Italy as Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Maria Teresa Oliviero, 61.

Kenyan police said they had been taken across the frontier. "We have deployed security forces who are currently pursuing them," a senior officer said. "So far, no progress has been made because it appears they have already crossed the border to the other side.

"We are collaborating with village elders on the other side to negotiate."

Somalia is notoriously conflict-ridden, with no functioning government for years, and the Gedo region, which neighbours northeastern Kenya, is mostly controlled by Islamists militants who are fighting the transitional federal government.

In addition, rival clans in the area regularly clash over water and grasslands.

Kidnapping, usually for ransom, is a favoured activity of Somali gangs, which have targeted foreigners and local employees of international organizations in recent months.

At the weekend a Somali official of Mercy Corps, an American charity, was shot dead, and last week four aid workers from the French aid group Action Contre la Faim were kidnapped, along with their two Kenyan pilots, when gunmen stormed an airstrip.

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