National News

Doctor back home after Somalia ordeal

Aid group worker Dr. Keiko Akahane returned Jan. 13 to Japan following her release from three months in captivity in Somalia. Akahane appeared in good health and had a big smile when she was greeted by the staff of her aid agency, Doctors of the World.

Akahane, 32, and Dutch nurse Wilhem Sools, 27, both workers for the medical aid group, were abducted by an armed group Sept. 22 in the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, about 80 km from the Somali border. Their kidnappers took them into Somalia and moved them around to different locations within the country, according to the aid group. They were released Jan. 7 in Somalia and first went to Nairobi and then to Paris, where the aid group is headquartered. (Kyodo News, AP)

Shukan ST: Jan. 23, 2009

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