Security stepped up after GSU man shot

Surveillance against snipers has been intensified on the Somalia-Kenya border following the shooting of a GSU officer on Tuesday.

The attack at Liboi border point was a departure from past attacks in which Somalia insurgents confronted Kenyan security officers.

The officer is admitted to the Garissa Provincial General Hospital with a bullet wound to the thigh. The victim and his colleague, who survived unscathed, did not even see the direction the shooter fired from.

Al Shabaab militiamen are suspected to be to have stationed snipers at the border. A senior security officer who spoke to the Nation said the shooting would not cause further deployments to be made immediately adding surveillance is more appropriate.

Last week, 76 Fifa World Cup football fans were killed in Kampala, Uganda, in an attack that al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for.

In April, a joint police and military force was sent to Liboi in Garissa District following an incursion by members of the Somali Islamist group.

The militia are said to have thrown a grenade into the GSU camp, injuring some officers. Al Shabaab, which has links with the al Qaeda terror network, has besieged the transitional government in Somalia and has threatened to attack Kenya over its stationing of soldiers on the border.

The US has expressed its willingness to expand support to African Union peacekeepers in Somalia. US Africa Command’s top officer William “Kip” Ward said the Pentagon planned to expand its aid in the form of training, equipment, transport and logistics to the AU mission.

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Ward stressed the need to take immediate action against violent extremists or else it could attack US personnel and their interests across the globe.

US newspaper Gant Daily, said the US’s commitment came in the wake of suicide bombings in Kampala, in which 76 people died and hundreds others were injured.

A day later, al Shabaab rebels from Somalia claimed responsibility for the attacks and warned future attacks on all African nations, which continue to provide support to UN peacekeeping forces in Somalia.