Misadventure that could have proved fatal for an Italian tourist who had decided to travel by car from Malindi to Lamu together with a friend of U.S. citizenship.
The 40-year-old woman, whose personal details were not disclosed, was last night stranded at a fake checkpoint set up by suspected militants of the al-Shabaab terrorist group near the village of Witu, between Garsen and the docking port of Mokowe, from which one arrives by sea in the Lamu archipelago, according to local police officers told The Star newspaper. Along with their car, the criminals stopped three other vehicles and held the occupants hostage.
The Italian woman and her American friend were held hostage throughout the night, until a police vehicle drove through the checkpoint and a violent firefight began with the terrorists, who fled into a nearby forest, leaving the hostages who were freed in place. Two people, in a truck, were killed, a motorcycle was burned but fortunately the two female tourists were not injured or damaged. Prompt was the intervention of the Italian Embassy in Kenya, which through Malindi Honorary Consul Ivan Del Prete and Consular Assistant Marco Cavalli, and in close contact with the Farnesina Crisis Unit, escorted the military convoy that took the Italian woman and her traveling companion to the island of Lamu. The Italian Embassy continues to advise traveling Italian citizens to avoid traveling to the coastal area of Lamu County, which being adjacent to Somalia is at high risk of terrorist incidents and raids.