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

Police in Malawi say four suspects were fatally shot in the operation that rescued a British woman who was kidnapped

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

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

They said four 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 had said they were looking for four men who had used a gray 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.

Police said they were still investigating the motive behind Osman's abduction.