September 17, 2026 - 12:23 PM
BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — A British woman who was kidnapped in the southern African nation of Malawi last week has been rescued, police said Thursday.
Inspector General Richard Luhanga, the head of the Malawi police, told The Associated Press that 47-year-old Nusrat Osman was safe but declined to give more details. He said police would issue a statement later on the rescue operation.
Osman's brother, Shobi Jiwa, told Malawi news outlet Nation Online that she was rescued in an operation in which Luhanga's deputy inspector general was shot and wounded. It was not immediately clear if police had made any arrests.
Osman, a mother of two young children who reportedly works for a local auditing firm, was abducted around lunchtime on Sept. 11 in a neighborhood of the southern city of Blantyre. British media has reported that she is originally from the city of Leicester.
Malawi police had said they were looking for four men who had used a grey car to kidnap her. The motive was not clear, police said, and the suspects had not contacted Osman's family or authorities.
Authorities had offered a reward of about $17,000 for information leading to Osman’s rescue and the arrest and conviction of the kidnappers.
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