Suspected Al Shabaab members have asked for a hefty ransom in exchange for two doctors who were abducted on April 12 while working in Mandera County.
Somali community elders who were sent to trace the whereabouts of Doctors Assel Herera Correa (General Physician) and Landy Rodriguez (Surgeon) reported that the two medics were alive and located between the towns of Buale and El-Ade in Jubaland region of Somalia.
The abductors are asking for Ksh150 million to secure their release.
Citizen Digital reported that authorities sent back the community leaders to try and get better terms for the release of the doctors.
The medical experts are said to be providing treatment to the locals in a restricted environment.
It is believed that Al Shabaab is interested in doctors due to the casualties they suffer after attacks from Amisom troops and US airstrikes.
On the day the doctors were kidnapped, the suspects, who were armed, first blocked the vehicle that was ferrying the medics before alighting and opening fire on the police officers accompanying them.
One officer was fatally shot while the other managed to escape.
The militants then bundled the two doctors into their vehicle and drove off.
Just days after the abduction, the government recalled Cuban doctors attached to Wajir and Garissa Counties.
