Boy injured in Al-Shabaab attack in Mandera dies

A boy who was injured when suspected Al-Shabaab militants raided the Arabiya police camp in Mandera County on Thursday has died.

Osman Abdi Abdille, 15, succumbed to head injuries at Mandera County Referral Hospital on Thursday.

Arabia MCA Abdullahi Abdirahman, a relative of the boy, confirmed the death.

“We are making plans to have the boy buried now after we failed to secure a flight to refer him to a better hospital in Nairobi,” said Mr Abdirahman.

The MCA said the hospital’s management had contacted Amref, which agreed to have the boy flown to Nairobi on Friday.

AMREF NOT CONTACTED IN TIME

“It is unfortunate (that he died) because Amref had agreed to pick up the boy today morning (Friday) but he is no more,” said the MCA, who is also the chairman of the Mandera County Assembly's Health Committee.

Osman was injured in the head after a stray bullet hit him while he was sleeping in his family's house next to the Arabia police camp that was attacked by more than a 100 suspected Al-Shabaab militants.

A source at Mandera Referral Hospital, who declined to be named, said the boy died at about 8pm on Thursday.

The source added that the ongoing doctors’ strike could have contributed to the sad turn of events as “no one handled the situation with the much needed attention, resulting in the death”.

The source also said the hospital had failed to secure a flight from Amref on time after the boy was admitted in the morning.

“The hospital [called] Amref at about 3pm knowing the agency cannot fly into Mandera late in the day,” said the source.

The Mandera County government and Amref have an agreement under which the health-development agency is called in to handle medical emergency cases that need referrals to Nairobi.