Mandera police foil Al-Shabaab attack on buses
Police officers peep in the window as they keep guard at Mandera County Referral Hospital, where five of their colleagues were admitted after an explosion went off at Border Point 3, on the Mandera-Somalia border on December 14, 2015. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The incident happened hours after a military convoy was attacked, leaving one Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officer dead and two injured.
- The county commissioner attributed the increased attacks on security agents to the mysterious killing of Mrs Isnina Musa, who was declared by the government as a former cook for the terror group.
- Mr Shisia said security agents had been deployed along the border to combat the increasing terror incidents.
Police in Mandera on Tuesday foiled a planned Al-Shabaab attack targeting two passenger buses heading to the town.
County Commissioner Fredrick Shisia said 12 police officers were escorting the buses from Elwak through Wargadud location when they were ambushed.
“It is true there was an attack on a convoy of two buses coming from Elwak at Kona area, where our officers engaged suspected terrorists in a fire exchange but none of them was injured,” said Mr Shisia.
He said it was not an ordinary attack because the attackers targeted security agents after leaving the two buses to pass through their trap.
“We have cordoned off the area and our security agents are pursuing the attackers. We believe something positive will come out,” said Mr Shisia.
He said the security team in Mandera was following up allegations that a group of between 10 to 15 armed men took hostage a village in Wargadud Ward on Sunday and lectured villagers before disappearing into the bushes.
The incident happened hours after a military convoy was attacked, leaving one Kenya Defence Forces officer dead and two injured.
AL-SHABAAB'S FORMER COOK
The county commissioner attributed the increased attacks on security agents to the mysterious killing of Mrs Isnina Musa, who was declared by the government as a former cook for the terror group.
“Somalia security agents have left a certain corridor open due to challenges they are facing back there and it has created an opening for Al-Shabaab ... to get easy access into Kenya but we are sealing off the Elwak point,” said Mr Shisia.
Wargadud Ward Representative Ahmed Ibrahim told Nation.co.ke a group of 15 to 20 armed men arrived in Buke village on Sunday and held residents hostage for two hours.
“Armed terrorists arrived in the village at 3pm on Sunday, hoisted a flag and lectured the villagers before returning into the bush at around 5pm, leaving a massage that no one should inform the government of their presence,” said Mr Ibrahim.
Speaking from the Red Sea Hotel in Mandera town, he said most of the government administrators, including chiefs and their assistants, had fled the ward fearing for their lives.
Mr Shisia said security agents had been deployed along the border to combat the increasing terror incidents.
The government has been providing armed police escorts to public service vehicles in and out of Mandera town since last November, when Al-Shabaab terrorists hijacked a Nairobi-bound bus and killed 28 people.
