New York/Mandera, July 8, 2003 - The international medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders/'Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) evacuated its team from Mandera, in northeast Kenya, following last week's attack against one of its international volunteers.
On Thursday, June 26, a Dutch Medical doctor working with MSF was seriously injured in a hand grenade attack near the MSF compound. Three Kenyan civilians were severely injured and one Somali civilian was killed in the same attack. The wounded are in a stable condition at Nairobi General Hospital, and the MSF doctor was evacuated to Holland as soon as his condition was stable. The attacker is not known to MSF.
MSF had been treating 38 patients in a Therapeutic Feeding Center at Mandera District Hospital before the attack and was about to start working in the Paediatric Ward of the District Hospital as the first part of a long-term program. MSF will continue to assess the security situation in Mandera and gather a clearer understanding of the motives behind the attack.
MSF has been working in Mandera since 1996 in emergency responses.
