How I survived Mandera terror attack

Miracles do not happen every day, but for me, there is no other way to describe how I survived the terrorist attack on Wednesday, other than that it was miraculous.

Our journey started at 10am, with a short briefing in Mandera town on Governor Ali Roba’s planned rallies.

The governor and his team were heading to Lafey town, about 180km away. Habiba Cali, the director of communication at the governor’s office, told us we would use a safer route to Lafey.

We were to leave Mandera town towards Rhamu then to Wargadud before branching off to Lafey from the Rhamu–El Wak road.

Abdullahi Ibrahim, 53, was the driver of the Toyota Land Cruiser in which I was a passenger along with Jeremy Wangui, a county government photographer.

But when we departed, we took the more dangerous route vulnerable to Al-Shabaab attacks.

IMPROMPTU RALLY

“Why are we on this road yet I was told we are going to Lafey through a safer road?” I asked, but got no answer.

After about an hour’s drive, we arrived in Arabia, where the first rally for the day had been planned.

Here, the only AP camp was attacked by the militants on February 2. Among the items they stole were three biometric voter registration machines.

We found the governor already seated in his official vehicle. Because the rally was an impromptu one, locals had to be mobilised first.

After about 30 minutes, a crowd gathered and the rally started. Many speakers appealed for peaceful elections.

When the rally ended at 11.45pm, lunch was served before we took off to Fino town, 25km away.

However, I noticed something strange. The governor’s security team hurriedly arranged the cars into a convoy, which did not happen when we left Mandera. But our driver decided to remain behind despite our pleas to him to stay close to the governor’s car.

“There is an officer in the governor’s team who doesn’t want me close to their vehicle,” Mr Ibrahim told us.

After about 25 minutes’ drive, the convoy stopped between Arabia and Fino. The governor had a word with his campaign managers and Mandera West MP Mohamud Mohamed.

I informed the governor of our driver’s reluctance and he asked his bodyguard Mohamed Ibrahim to intervene.

I DECLINED

Mr Ibrahim asked us to move ahead but knowing the road well, I declined. He was among those killed in the explosion a few minutes later.

There was a loud bang and I saw what looked like a vehicle flying in the air in a heavy cloud of dust. Jeremy, who was in the front passenger seat, shouted “Risasi! Risasi! (Gunfire! Gunfire!)”. Our driver turned back.

It was helter-skelter for those whose vehicles could not turn around quickly as gunshots rent the air. Having been on the same road on March 23, 2015 when a similar attack claimed three lives in the governor’s convoy, I was ready for anything.

We sped back to Arabia, with my hand on the door handle ready to jump out and dash into the bush. In Arabia, I asked a police officer to show me a place where I could connect to Somalia’s Hormud mobile phone network to call Nation Centre.

The Safaricom mast had been destroyed in a March attack.

Luckily, I got connected to the Somali network and called Harry Misiko on the digital desk to inform him about my ordeal.

After a short break and soul-searching, I decided to go back to the scene of the attack.