Fierce gun battle as Pirates kidnap female tourist, 66

A GANG of Somali kidnappers were injured last night as security officers fought to rescue a disabled French woman snatched from an idyllic Kenyan beach resort. The kidnappers, said to be Al Qaeda-linked militants armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, abducted Marie Dedieu, 66, after breaking into a luxury beach house at 3am. In a huge operation Kenyan navy, coastguard and police gave chase as the men tried to escape with their hostage in a speedboat back to Somalia. Last night they opened fire, reportedly hitting several kidnappers. Despite their injuries the gang still managed to enter the Somali town of Ras Komboni. As darkness fell, it was unclear what had happened to Ms Dedieu. The abduction came just weeks after British tourist Judith Tebbutt, 54, was kidnapped nearby by a gang who also shot dead her husband, David, 58. Ms Dedieu, who uses a wheelchair, lived in a private beach resort on Manda Island with her boyfriend, 39-year-old Kenyan John Lepapa. He gave a graphic description of how six masked gunmen stormed the couple’s house in the early hours, first rounding up staff, then forcing everyone into the main living quarters. “All they were saying was, ‘Where is the foreigner, where is the foreigner?’” After making him and the house-helps lie face down on the floor, one of the gang grabbed Ms Dedieu, pulled her over his shoulder and made off. “My girlfriend pleaded with them and told them to take whatever they wanted from the house, including the money and to spare her life, but they would not listen,” said Lepapa.In pitch-black seas Kenyan forces chased after the kidnappers in fast coastguard cutters. At one point earlier they had the gang’s boat surrounded. Kenyan tourism minister Najib Balala said “Two boats of the Kenyan coastguard have surrounded the boat on which the gunmen and woman are.” At this stage it was reported there were four kidnappers with Ms Dedieu. The tense stand-off on the high seas went on for some time as the authorities appeared to have decided on a waiting game. “Our fear is if we do drown the boat, we will drown the woman,” added Mr Balala. The kidnappers were firing their rifles into the air in an effort to deter or scare off security forces and stop them attempting to board their speedboat. A Kenyan plane watched events unfold as it circled the skies. Mr Balala added: “We are just concerned about the safety of the lady.” By late afternoon French security officers were considering whether to enter ransom negotiations or send in the Escouade de Contre-terrorisme et de Libération d’otages, France’s equivalent of the SAS. Ambrose Munyasia, a top Kenyan police official on the coast, said he had information that the French government would join the chase. Asked if he thought the woman would be rescued soon he said he was “optimistic”. Somali pirates were first thought to be behind the kidnap but later ministers blamed Islamic militant group al-Shabab. Kidnapping has become the crime of choice for the gangs who inhabit the arid waste near the border with Somalia. Analysts warned earlier this year that Somali pirates were likely to turn to kidnapping after shipping magnates toughened up security on their tankers travelling through this region of the Indian Ocean. Pirates held kidnapped Britons Paul and Rachel Chandler for more than a year after commandeering their yacht in 2009. The couple were freed amid reports of a £600,000 ransom. Then came last month’s murder of Mr Tebbutt and the abduction of his wife. The couple, from Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, had been staying at the popular tourist resort of Lamu, which stands across a narrow channel from Manda Island. Mrs Tebbutt, who has difficulty hearing, is now feared to be seriously ill after being struck with fever. Tourism chiefs fear the kidnaps will wreck the industry in Kenya. The first six months of this year saw record numbers visiting the country and confidence finally returning after the violence that followed the 2007 presidential election. East Africa’s biggest economy was on track to trump 2010’s record earnings of £477million. Since the Tebbutt kidnapping, however, many bookings have been cancelled. Gabriel Kombe, assistant manager at Lamu’s Sunsail Hotel, said: “If this goes on, we might be forced to close the hotel.”