ALGIERS (BNO NEWS) — Three international aid workers, two from Spain and one from Italy, were kidnapped by gunmen overnight from a refugee camp in Algeria, government officials confirmed on Sunday.
The kidnappings took place in Rabouni, which serves as the administrative capital of the Western Sahara refugee camps located in the Algerian desert region of Tindouf. Witnesses said ten gunmen arrived in two all-terrain vehicles before kidnapping the two women and one man.
The Spanish El País newspaper reported on its website on Monday that a number of shots were fired during the kidnapping and added that one of the victims, a male, was reportedly wounded by a bullet.
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on Sunday made a statement to condemn the attack, describing it as a “tragic criminal and terrorist operation.”
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been active in the Sahel and Sahara regions. In February, AQIM abducted an Italian woman in Algeria while three Catalan aid workers were released by the group in 2010.
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