Explosives found in cemetery

• Administrator says then weapons were meant to be used in attacks by al-Shabaab sympathisers

Security officers on Friday found weapons hidden in a cemetery in Wajir County.

They were buried at 13 different places in Bula Hodhan Cemetery, one kilometre from Wajir town centre.

The weapons, which were packed in plastic containers and bags, included 13 improvised explosive devices, rocket launchers, hand grenades and 228 bullets.

Officers from the Anti-Terror Unit, the General Service Unit and Administration Police, and bomb experts from the Kenya Defence Force seized the weapons.

The discovery was first made by children who were playing in the graveyard.

Sources in the area told the Nation that motorcycle batteries and 20-litre containers were also found in the cemetery.

Wajir county commissioner Naftali Mungathia told journalists that security officers had information about the people who had hidden the weapons, adding that they were being hunted down.

He further said that al-Shabaab sympathisers wanted to use the explosives for terror attacks in the country.

Area MP Mohammed Elmi praised the residents for their cooperation, which led to the recovery of the weapons.

Mr Elmi, who is also the minister of Development of Northern Kenya and Other Arid Lands, condemned the terror attacks in the county, including the one that occurred last Sunday at a church in Pangani Estate, Nairobi. It left a child dead and scores of others injured.

He said the attacks were creating religious and tribal animosity among Kenyans.

Pupils at Bula Hodhan Primary school, which is adjacent to the cemetery, had to be evacuated from the compound over the weapons.

Learning resumed in the afternoon after police declared the area safe.

Wajir police boss James Mutungi said: “The suspects escaped into nearby bushes.”

He added that police had mounted roadblocks at strategic points along the Wajir-Habaswein road in a bid to prevent movement of arms.

Mr Mutungi said the police suspect the weapons belonged to arms traffickers although he did not rule out the possibility of the Somalia insurgents being some of the owners.

Over the recent past, cases of al- Shabaab insurgents attacking targets in Wajir town have been common but no one has yet been arrested in connection with the attacks.

Last month, security officers in Garissa County netted 2,000 rounds of ammunition which were being transported from Wajir County.