News Search Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search Story archive		1-4-2003 Times Troops rescue Basra captives;Iraq war By Gethin Chamberlain near Basra TWO Kenyan lorry drivers kidnapped ten days ago outside al-Zubayr in southern Iraq were rescued yesterday when British troops burst into the school where they were being held. David Shira Mukaria and Jakubu Maina Kamau were kept blindfolded, with their hands and feet bound together and without food and water. They said they had spent their time in captivity praying for rescue or death, listening to their captors deciding whether or not to kill them. The men were abducted by Iraqi militiamen after becoming separated from a food convoy heading for the southern seaport of Umm Qasr. British military officials said they believed the men were aid convoy drivers, but the pair said they had been delivering food supplies to the US military. They said they had become lost near al-Zubayr, outside Basra, when other vehicles in the convoy switched off their lights and accelerated away. A man approached them at the roadside and flagged them down with a torch, then about 20 armed men appeared and dragged them from the cab. They said they were beaten, tied up and taken to the school which, like many other civilian buildings in the town, had been taken over by the militia and used as a weapons dump and military base. The world was alerted to their disappearance when they were filmed by al Jazeera television, which broadcast their pictures along with those of two dead British soldiers. The Kenyans were rescued yesterday morning when Black Watch troops, who are in control of the town, were tipped off by local people. Troops sent to the school found it had been abandoned by the militia and the two men were found in one of the classrooms. The men said they were relieved to have been rescued, but criticised the security around the 18-lorry convoy that had allowed them to become separated and lost. Mr Mukaria, 53, said that he and his colleague had no water or food for 10 days. "They beat us, tied our hands and feet and covered our eyes and took everything we had," he said. "Some of them were speaking in English. Some of them said, 'Kill them', some of them said, 'No'. We just prayed and prayed." This report is pooled copy for the British press by Gethin Chamberlain of The Scotsman
		................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved.