Kidnappers free two Kenyans in Mogadishu
Members of the hardline Al Shabaab Islamist rebel group sit on a pick-up during a demonstration in Mogadishu, October 30, 2009. Al Shabaab Islamists rallied against Israeli police's storming of Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound last Sunday, during which stun grenades were hurled at Palestinians who had thrown rocks at them. REUTERS/Omar Faruk (SOMALIA CONFLICT RELIGION)
MOGADISHU, Tuesday (Reuters) - Kidnappers in the Somali capital Mogadishu have freed two Kenyan men they abducted on Sunday in the city's Bakara market, colleagues said on Tuesday.
The pair were grabbed along with two Somalis by 10 masked gunmen in the market, which is controlled by al Shabaab rebels who Washington accuses of being linked to al Qaeda. The Somalis were later released, then the Kenyans were freed late on Monday.
"They are safe ... We gave them a vacation," said Abdukar Ali, manager of the Hamar Adde printing centre where all four men had worked. He said the two Kenyans had flown to Nairobi.
Another colleague at the printing centre confirmed the pair had been released and had left the Horn of Africa nation.
Kidnappings -- often targeting foreigners and aid workers -- are common in Somalia. The two Somalis who were released earlier have declined to comment on their brief abduction.
President Sheik Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist elected earlier this year at UN-backed talks in the 15th attempt to establish a central Somali government, is struggling to deal with insurgent groups who control large parts of the country.
