Fishermen return to Iran years after Somalia kidnapping

Tehran: Fourteen Iranian fishermen seized by the Al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia, some as long as eight years ago, have returned home, news outlets in the Islamic republic said on Sunday.

The fishermen were abducted in international waters near Somalia and released after “lengthy negotiations with government officials, tribal chiefs and Somali elders”, the ISNA news agency reported.

They were welcomed in a special ceremony at Tehran´s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Saturday night before being transported to their southern hometown of Chabahar, it added.

Their release comes almost a month after Somali police said they discovered 20 foreigners near territory controlled by the militant group.

At the time, Somali police said some had been kidnapped by Al-Shabaab in 2014, while others had been abducted on the southern coast of Harardhere in mid-2019.

Reports suggested they could have been abducted by pirates and handed over to Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda that includes foreign fighters among its ranks.