Two Kenyan aid workers have been found “lost and disorientated” in Somalia after being kidnapped by al-Shabab in 2011, the military says. Daniel Njuguna and James Kiarie are now in hospital in the Somali town of Dhobley, the army says.
They are now in the care of Kenyan troops working with the African Union force in Somalia, Amisom.
Kenya sent troops into Somalia in 2011 following a spate of kidnappings in border areas.
Amisom troops are helping government forces battle al-Shabab, an Islamist militia which is part of al-Qaeda and which controls much of southern and central Somalia.
Dhobley is under the control of Kenyan troops and is near the border.
Kenyan army spokesman Col Willy Wesonga disputed reports the pair had been freed in February after converting to Islam.
He told the BBC that if you release someone you have kidnapped, you have to hand them over to the authorities.
The pair will be transferred to Nairobi on Saturday, the army says.
Mr Kiarie works for Care International, the army says. MSF have denied an earlier report that Mr Njuguna is one of their employees.
They were originally kidnapped along the Kenya-Somalia border, where there is a huge aid operation to cope with the hundreds of thousands of Somalis who have fled two decades of violence.
Dadaab, across the border from Dhobley, is said to be the world’s largest refugee camp.
BBC News
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