A British woman kidnapped in Malawi last week has been rescued by police, after a shootout in which four of her alleged abductors were killed.

Nusrat Osman was abducted outside her home in the southern city of Blantyre, on 11 September at about 12.30pm. Police had offered a reward of 30m Malawi kwacha (£12,950) for information leading to her rescue and the arrest of the perpetrators.

Malawian police announced her rescue late on Thursday night in a statement. “There was an exchange of fire between police and kidnappers, who were armed with [an] AK47 rifle and a Girsan Regard MC pistol. In the process, the criminals got shot and were taken to hospital where they succumbed to their injuries.”

A police officer, deputy inspector general Mlowoka Noel Kayira, was also shot during the operation. “He is currently receiving medical attention at the hospital and is in a stable condition,” police said.

Osman, a 47-year-old auditor and mother of two, was safe and “not too shaken” after her ordeal, her brother Shobi Jiwa told The Sun, expressing his gratitude to Malawi’s police.

Jiwa reserved special thanks for Kayira. “He is the hero of our family. He’s the hero of the country,” he said. “He’s the hero of the world, actually, for putting his life at risk and taking a bullet into himself for my sister.”

Kidnappings have historically been rare in Malawi, which has experienced a rise in pickpocketing and house burglaries by often armed men in recent years, amid an unstable, often crisis-ridden economic conditions.

The landlocked southern African country is one of the world’s poorest nations, with a population of about 22 million and an average annual income of just $672, according to the World Bank.

In 2024, a country report by the US state department’s diplomatic security service said: “Kidnappings are not a widespread concern in Malawi, and there have been no recent high-profile incidents involving westerners.

“Historically, expatriates have not been significant targets for kidnappings in the country. When kidnappings do occur, they often involve members of the Asian business community rather than foreign travellers or residents.”

Osman, who is originally from Leicester, worked for a local audit firm and had lived in Malawi with her husband and children for several years. Before her rescue, her worried family said they didn’t have any news of her, including any contact from the kidnappers demanding a ransom.

“I don’t know where she is or how she is. My wife is an auditor, and I have no issues with anyone,” her husband, Nazil Osman, told local news outlet Nyasa Times.

“My sister has been missing for five days with no trace or call,” her brother told The Sun on Tuesday, adding that the family could not think of a motive for her kidnapping.

Police did not say whether information received in response to the offered reward had led to Osman’s rescue, saying that investigations were still ongoing and more details would be shared “in due course”.