An Italian aid volunteer who was kidnapped in Kenya some 18 months ago has been freed, according to officials in Italy.
Silvia Romano, who was working at an orphanage in Chakama village near Kenya's southeast coast, was kidnapped by unknown gunmen on November 20, 2018, in an attack that left five residents with bullet wounds.
Silvia Romano, who was working at an orphanage in Chakama village near Kenya's southeast coast, was kidnapped by unknown gunmen on November 20, 2018, in an attack that left five residents with bullet wounds.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the 25-year-old's release on Saturday.
"Silvia, we look forward to seeing you in Italy!" he wrote on Twitter, thanking the country's intelligence services.
No details were given about the identity or motivation of the captors of Romano, a volunteer with the Africa Milele organisation.
Italian news agency ANSA reported that the volunteer was rescued by the Italian foreign intelligence service, in collaboration with Turkish and Somali officers, at a location some 30km (19 miles) from Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.
Somalia-based fighters have been blamed in the past for a spate of kidnappings of foreigners along Kenya's coast.
Raffaele Volpi, head of the Italian parliament's committee on security, said Romano was "in good shape".
"Obviously she's had a rough time from being imprisoned, but she's OK," Volpi was quoted as saying by ANSA.
Chakama, in Kilifi county, is about 60km (40 miles) inland from the coastal town of Malindi, which is popular with Italian tourists and expatriates.
During the 2018 assault, attackers armed with rifles fired indiscriminately at residents and wounded five people, including three children.Al-Shabab has been blamed for a series of kidnappings of foreigners along Kenya’s coast. Kenya said the abductions of four foreigners prompted it to send troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabab members.
Romano was seized as gunmen looking for a “mgeni” - Swahili for visitor - fired weapons indiscriminately during an attack in Chakama, according to Ronald Kazungu Ngala, a student whose education was being sponsored by Africa Milele who said he witnessed the Nov. 20, 2018 kidnapping.
After sharing his account with The Associated Press, Ngala continued seeking information about Romano's fate. On Saturday, he said he was overjoyed to hear she had been freed.
“I feel so happy. We didn’t know whether they had killed her or done something bad. Living with the uncertainty was painful,” Ngala, 20, said.
Ngala said Kenyan authorities questioned him after the attack and initially thought they had zeroed in on her location but “eventually her trail went silent."
“When I see her on TV speaking, that’s when I will completely believe because there were many occasions when authorities here suggested she was close to being rescued and then nothing,” he said.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who also announced Romano’s liberation on Twitter, said, “The government never leaves anyone behind.”
