NAIROBI — Gunmen killed at least one person
and kidnapped four aid workers on Friday in Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp
complex near the border with war-torn Somalia, police and officials
said.The workers come from Canada, Norway, Pakistan and the Philippines, regional police official Philip Ndolo told AFP.

Ndolo
said the aid workers' Kenyan driver was shot dead in the attack,
clarifying an earlier statement in which he said he had been also
kidnapped.Police were chasing the gunmen, who drove off with the hostages in their vehicle.

Medical
officials with the German government aid agency GIZ said a driver with
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) had died and two others were wounded in
the attack, which took place in the sprawling Ifo 2 camp around midday."One
NRC staff member died, and two others are injured," said Faiysal
Abdullahi, a medical officer with GIZ. Kenya's Red Cross also confirmed
the kidnapping and the death of one person.The attack happened
close to the NRC compound, but staff at the aid agency's headquarters in
Oslo said they could neither deny nor confirm the reports, as they were
trying to get information themselves.There were differing
reports of the nationalities of those involved, but several local
sources said the hostages included Europeans."They were in a Land
Cruiser when they were attacked, the vehicle has been taken away with
them," said a police source on condition of anonymity as he was not
authorised to speak to the media."A team is pursuing them, but we
do not know if they have crossed to the other side," the source added,
referring to neighbouring Somalia some 100 kilometres (60 miles) away.The
kidnapping is the latest in a series of attacks in the giant Dadaab
camp, where gunmen last October seized two Spaniards working for
Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Montserrat Serra and
Blanca Thiebaut.They are still being held hostage in Somalia.

The
kidnapping of the Spaniards was one of the incidents that spurred Kenya
to send troops and tanks into Somalia to fight the Al-Qaeda-linked
Shebab insurgents Nairobi blames for abductions as well as for
cross-border raids.The Dadaab complex is the world's largest camp
with more than 465,000 inhabitants at the end of May, constituting
Kenya's third-biggest town.The Shebab still control large parts
of southern Somalia, despite recent losses to African Union troops,
government forces and Ethiopian soldiers, who have wrested several key
bases from the insurgents.Kenya, which invaded southern Somalia
in October before joining the AU force, has a heavy troop presence some
120 kilometres (75 miles) into Somalia from their frontier.Since
the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre, Somalia has been
variously governed by ruthless warlords and militia groups, each
controlling their own limited fiefdoms.



Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.
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