20120701
AFP
Kenyan security forces on Saturday scoured border regions with war-torn Somalia in the hunt for armed kidnappers who seized four foreign aid workers from Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp.

The two men and two women who work with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), come from Canada, Norway, Pakistan and the Philippines. A Kenyan driver was killed and two others were wounded during Friday's attack.

"The search is intensifying and more security forces have been sent to make every effort possible but, so far, no one has been recovered," Kenyan army spokesman Cyrus Oguna told AFP.

Aerial searches were ongoing using both military helicopters and aircraft, while vehicles and troops on foot searched the remote scrubland either side of the porous border with Somalia.

Kenya, which invaded southern Somalia in October to attack Al-Qaeda linked Islamist insurgents, has troops some 120 kilometres (75 miles) deep into Somalia. However, the forces control only pockets of the vast territory.

While many fear the gunmen and their hostages crossed swiftly into Somalia -- only some 100 kilometres from Dadaab -- Oguna said he was still hopeful they remained inside Kenya.

"We are thinking that they are in Kenya, we are making every effort that we can, and we are hopeful of a positive outcome," he added.

The aid workers' vehicle, which the gunmen stole after killing the driver, was found abandoned a few hours after the attack. Similar abductions in the past have seen the gunmen disappear into the bush to evade capture.

NRC is working to support some 465,000 inhabitants in the Dadaab complex, which constitutes Kenya's third-biggest town in terms of population.

The kidnapping is the latest in a series of attacks in Dadaab, where gunmen last October seized two Spaniards working for Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). They are still being held hostage in Somalia.

The abduction of the Spaniards was one of the incidents that spurred Kenya to send troops and tanks into Somalia to fight the Shebab insurgents Nairobi blames for abductions and for cross-border raids.

However, Kenya has also voiced concern that Dadaab, too, poses a security threat, and has blocked registration of new refugees to the camp.

"The information we have is that the attackers came from the camp, and it raises serious questions that if they were refugees, how they got into the camp armed," Kenyan Defence Minister Yusuf Haji said.

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.

Representatives of the countries of those kidnapped said they were ensuring every effort was being made to secure the release of the aid workers.

"We are pursuing all appropriate channels... We will not comment or release any information which may compromise these efforts," said Canadian foreign ministry spokesman Claude Rochon, adding that the "first priority is the safety and security" of its citizens.

Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said the embassy in Nairobi had asked the Kenyan government for assistance, and was coordinating with the embassies of the other hostages.

Since the 1991 ouster of then president Mohamed Siad Barre, Somalia has been variously governed by ruthless warlords and militia groups, each controlling their own limited fiefdoms.

Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have fled to neighbouring countries since the collapse of a formal government two decades ago, while crippling drought and famine racked the lawless nation last year.