2 suspects killed in shootout as police rescue kidnapped British woman in Malawi

BLANTYRE, Malawi — Two suspects were fatally shot Thursday in a police operation in Malawi that rescued a British woman who was kidnapped last week, authorities said.

The woman, 47-year-old Nusrat Osman, is safe and has been reunited with her family in the southern African country, Malawian police said in a statement.

Police initially said Thursday that four suspects were killed in the operation. But Inspector General Richard Luhanga, the head of the Malawi police, said Friday that two suspects were killed. No explanation was given for the change, but police said they are still searching for two other suspects.

They said the suspected kidnappers, who were armed with an AK-47 rifle and a pistol, were killed in a shootout with police. A senior Malawian police officer was wounded and was in stable condition in a hospital, the Malawi Police Service said.

Osman, a mother of two young children who reportedly works for an auditing firm in Malawi, was abducted around lunchtime on Sept. 11 in the southern city of Blantyre. British media have reported that she is originally from the city of Leicester.

Malawi police said at the time they were looking for four men who had used a gray car to kidnap her.

Authorities had offered a reward of about $17,000 for information leading to Osman’s rescue and the arrest and conviction of the kidnappers. The motive was not clear, police said.