Probe starts on Kenyans spying for Al-Shabaab

Security agencies have launched investigations over reports that at least three Kenyan officers could have been spying for terrorist group Al-Shabaab.

They are a lieutenant colonel with the Army and two junior police officers said to have been in regular contact with the Somalia-based militia.

Their association with the group is viewed to have compromised Operation Linda Nchi, the incursion by Kenyan military into Somalia aimed at defeating the Al-Shabaab on their own soil.

The military officer is said to have passed on secret information to the group while the police officers are accused of facilitating terror attacks including fatal explosions carried out in Kenya.

According to the reports, the policemen worked with the Al-Shabaab at the Daadab refugee camp. Two explosions occurred at the camp late last year.

The police officers are alleged to have received Sh200,000 for every attack they helped execute in Kenya.

The reports have however been denied by the military.

Military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir, responded via his tweet account: “Treat the entire story as propaganda. Kenya Defence Forces officers, men and women remain committed to the mission to defeat Al Shabaab.”

In December alone, at least 15 incidents involving grenades or Improvised Explosive Devices were reported in Garissa, Wajir, Mandera and Dadaab.

The reports emerged days after the officers in charge of operations and public information at Department of Defence, Colonel Cyrus Oguna said a key centre used by Al-Shabaab to transport arms and explosive devices from Kismayu to Kenyan refugee camps through Hosingow was captured.

Destabilising terrorists

He was speaking at the weekly brief on Operation Linda Nchi last Saturday.

The capture of Delbio in the central sector would go a long way towards destabilising the terrorist group near Kenya’s eastern border with Somalia, he said.

Major Chirchir also issued a statement to newsrooms on Wednesday saying Kenyan soldiers had captured Hosingo and Badade towns following a series of attacks over the weekend.

“Hosingo was attacked on Saturday afternoon by our helicopter gunship. The towns are under control of the joint forces. The towns are strategic for the reinforcement and movement of Improvised Explosive Devices and other ammunition for the Al-Shabaab,” he said.

The Saturday attacks continued the following day in which several Al-Shabaab militants were killed and others injured, Mjr Chirchir added.

“Three technical vehicles were destroyed together with two utility vehicles and a tractor. An arms and ammunition damp were also destroyed in the nearby Al-Shabaab camp,” the statement further said.

During the press briefing, Col Oguna also dismissed claims that there were cases of desertion.

Two Kenyan Lieutenants and a Somali Transitional Government soldier were killed during the January 22 capture of the arms centre.

Several Al-Shabaab members were also killed and four AK-47, several rounds of ammunition and communication equipment recovered.

Kenyan soldiers are of the view that the military operation is halfway done.

Al-Shabaab has raided Kenyan territory in Wajir, where about 100 of their fighters destroyed an Administration Police camp at Gerille and abducted three men, two of them civil servants.

The Kenya Government is trying to negotiate the release of the two, Edward Mule, a district officer, and Fredrick Irungu, an immigration clerk.

Col Oguna said the incident indicated the difficulty in telling Al-Shabaab members apart from ordinary Somali citizens.

Some could pretend to be seeking medical assistance across the border as they carry out surveillance on possible targets.

He said given the nature of the war with Al-Shabaab, which is not a conventional army, the abduction was an isolated case but such incidents are not entirely unexpected.