Mogadishu (SD) – Somalia and Cuban governments has denied recent reports that al-Shabab militants have released two Cuban doctors they held captive in Somalia.

The Associated Press reports that a Somali intelligence official told them the doctors had been released over the weekend, following lengthy negotiations.

Somali Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Isse Awad said the Somali government was not aware of the incident.

“Some international media reported the release of Cuban doctors held hostage in Somalia that news is not from the Somali government, it is a fabrication,” Awad said.

Cuban Foreign Ministry spokesman Juan Antonio Fernández Palacio also denied the release of Assel Herrera Correa and Landy Rodríguez Hernández.

Al-Shabaab abducted the doctors from Mandera, Kenya in April 2019, killing their bodyguards and then bringing them to Somalia.