The fate of two Cuban doctors who were kidnapped five years ago by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group and held hostage in Somalia remains uncertain, as the Pentagon said it was investigating reports that they were killed in a US drone strike against al-Shabaab.

Asel Herrera Correa, a physician, and Ladi Rodríguez Hernández, a surgeon, were kidnapped in Kenya almost five years ago, in April 2019. The al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab (“Youth”) armed group announced that the two Cubans had been killed. in a US UAV strike in central Somalia, in the town of Jilib, on February 15.

The claim is impossible to independently verify, says a report by the American newspaper Miami Herald relaying the German Agency.

Major Pete Nguyen, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense, confirmed only that “an airstrike was conducted against the Shebab network on February 15 near Jilib, Somalia.”

He added that the Pentagon is aware of reports that “a strike reportedly killed two civilians. “We have no further information on this, however we take seriously all claims of civilian casualties,” he added.

He said that the joint command of the US armed forces responsible for the region (AFRICOM, “Africa command”) and cooperating with the Somali army in the context of operations against Shebab is still assessing the results of this particular operation.

Last Friday, the speaker of Cuba’s parliament, Esteban Lasso, met with Kenyan President William Ruto for talks about the hostages, the foreign ministry in Havana noted.

Mr. Ruto, for his part, reported through X (the former Twitter) that Mr. Lasso delivered a message to him from his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel and praised the relationship between the two countries, without mentioning the doctors.

The head of Cuban diplomacy, Bruno Rodríguez, thanked President Ruto for receiving Mr. Lasso as an emergency. “We believe he has the will to support efforts to clarify the situation of Cuban doctors” Herrera and Rodríguez, he added via X.

He added that he discussed the matter with his Somali counterpart, Ali Mohamed Omar.

Although negotiations took place and two operations were carried out for their release by the Kenyan and Somali armed forces, the doctors remained hostages of Shebab all these years. They were sent to Kenya in 2018 under a bilateral agreement.