I saw Lamu attackers, lucky survivor recalls

A bullet is still lodged in the neck of a woman who suffered injuries when a police vehicle was hit by an explosive suspected to have been planted by Al-Shabaab terrorists in Lamu on Monday.

Five people were killed in the morning attack. Mrs Khadija Abdi, 25, was one of the lucky survivors but she suffered bullet wounds in the neck and legs.

When she was taken to the Coast General Hospital on Monday night from Lamu’s King Fahd Hospital, she was still unconscious.

On Tuesday, however, she recalled the attack in which five civilians, who had hitched a lift in the police truck, were killed as they travelled on the Bodhai-Bar’goni road in Lamu County.

The mother of four said: “I saw one of them. One covered his head with a piece of cloth and was standing (near) a tree. He was firing at the vehicle while others who were hiding in the forest were also shooting all over the place.”

Mrs Abdi said she was rescued by a Kenya Defence Forces helicopter that came after the vehicle had already burnt up and the terrorist had disappeared into the forest.

“They were shooting even as the vehicle was burning. Those who could not run away just burnt inside. Four women and a baby died,” she said tearfully.

Immediately after the vehicle was hit with the explosive, she said, the attackers who were hiding in the nearby forest began shooting.

There was then an exchange of fire even as she ran into the forest carrying her one-year-old son.

“From there, I could see what they were doing,” she said.

Mrs Abdi added that the vehicle was burning when the terrorist fled into the thick forest.

Mrs Abdi said she was among “many” civilians when they hitched a lift on the police vehicle from Budhei heading to Mukowe. She was going to shop for her children ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations this weekend.

“There is no means of transport from our place apart from police cars. We usually (get) lifts from them,” said Mrs Abdi from her hospital bed.

GOOD SAMARITAN

Together with two officers, Mrs Abdi and her baby were taken to King Fahad Hospital in Lamu after which she was transferred overnight in the hospital’s ambulance to the Coast General Hospital.

Her son was later taken by a Good Samaritan and was on Tuesday under the care of her relatives in Lamu.

A relative, Mr Awadh Mardhi, who was attending to her when the Nation team arrived at her bedside, said Mrs Abdi was recuperating well.

In Lamu, security officers were hunting down the attackers.

The police commander in charge of Lamu County, Mr Chrispus Mutali, said the operation was being conducted by security personnel from various units, among them Kenya Defence Forces, the General Service Unit, the Rapid Deployment Unit and regular police.

“We have already launched an operation in Bar’goni, particularly in areas stretching towards the Boni Forest,” he said in an interview with the Nation.

He appealed to the public to inform security personnel of any person they spot with bullet wounds seeking medical assistance.

The dead were buried on Tuesday evening.