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Fears kidnapped widow taken from Kenya to Somalia

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

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Soldiers patrol Kiwayu Safari Village Soldiers are patrolling the resort where the attack took place
There are growing fears that a British woman whose husband was shot and killed during a holiday in Kenya may have been taken to Somalia by her kidnappers.
The couple, believed to be David and Judith Tebbutt from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, were staying at the luxury Kiwayu Safari Village.
Kenyan authorities said extra police and soldiers had been sent to the area in the hope of finding Mrs Tebbutt.
The Foreign Office has called for the 56-year old to be released unharmed.
It said a team had been sent to the area to help secure her release and that it was "offering all possible support to the family of those involved".
Mrs Tebbutt was reportedly taken from the resort by speedboat, in what police described as a "bandit attack".
British High Commissioner to Kenya Rob Macaire said the woman was an "innocent tourist", but the names of the couple have not yet been officially confirmed.
However it is understood that Mr Tebbutt worked in publishing.
Literary agent Carol Blake, who sat on a book charity board alongside Mr Tebbutt, described him as "calm, dependable and wise", and a seasoned traveller.

"I'm not at all surprised to hear that he may have been defending his wife. I can't imagine what their son is going through," she said.
Local police said the couple had checked into a cottage at the resort on Saturday - the only guests, following a trip to Kenya's Masai Mara reserve.
Shortly after midnight, the gunmen entered the couple's room and fired a single shot, they said.
'Easy entry' Speaking at a news conference, police commissioner Mathew Iteere said: "They do not have doors, those cottages. They are using the cloth as the doors. So I think they gained entry so easily and it was only one shot.
"Maybe they wanted to take the two and he [the husband] resisted and that's why he was shot."
Kenyan officials said a police officer had seen six men taking away a woman in a speed boat.
The BBC's Will Ross said parts of the resort have been cordoned off and soldiers deployed to the area were stopping the media from accessing the coastline.
The website for Kiwayu Safari Village, which was shut down following the attack, said the resort had round-the-clock security which was reviewed regularly. The village is about 45km (28 miles) from the Somali border.
The Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel to within 30km (18 miles) of Kenya's border with Somalia. There have been previous attacks by Somali militia into Kenya, it says.
Kenyan police said they had been on high alert in many areas of the country on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US.
Mr Iteere said reinforcements had been sent to the north-east and coastal provinces.
Map showing Lamu and Kiwayu
The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner said the attack - which appeared to be well-planned - was unusual for such a remote and exclusive tourist resort, despite being near the Somali border.
He said it remained unclear who was behind the attack and their reasons for it, but three possibilities were insurgents from southern Somalia, pirates or land-based bandits.
A crisis meeting involving regional experts was being led by the Foreign Office in Whitehall, he added.


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