Four killed as militia raids Garissa AP camp

At least four people were killed after members of the Al-Shabaab militia raided an administration police camp in Garissa on Friday.

The fighters, who crossed the border from Somalia, attacked the Galmagala AP camp during the night. The Interior ministry described the attackers as “heavily armed”.

Fafi MP Elias Bare Shill  said the attackers took control of the camp for hours before burning it down. The MP said the attack occurred 30 minutes after he had left the area after holding meetings with residents.

Mr Yakub Aress, a teacher who survived the attack with a bullet injury in the leg, said: “There were heavy gunshots, people burst into the scene shooting indiscriminately. At the time, I was looking for a child and, all of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in the ankle.”

In Nairobi, gangsters raided a mall and shot three people. The gangsters opened fire as they left the mall after robbing a businesswoman of Sh50,000. The victims, two men and a woman, were admitted to hospital with bullet wounds in the neck and shoulders.

Police are looking for the owner of a car registration number KBF 275Q, a Mitsubishi Lancer, after a witness said the gunmen entered the vehicle and sped off.

“Unless it’s a fake number plate, then we have a good lead and we shall definitely arrest the criminals,” said Nairobi police commander Benson Kibui. The incident happened at around 10 pm.

In a separate incident, detectives have questioned an administration policeman after he reported being robbed of an AK-47 rifle at the city’s Dandora Phase 4 area. The detectives claim he lost it in a bar after hours of drinking, and suspect there was no robbery.

“He was allegedly accosted by five gangsters but we have dismissed the theory. We are investigating the matter and we shall take action. We have since established that he was at Kario bar where he was drinking with a colleague,” said Mr Kibui.

The rifle had 15 rounds of ammunition and the incident comes a day after two policemen were stabbed while on night patrol and robbed of an AK-47 rifle and a Taurus pistol in the city’s Shauri Moyo estate.

The pistol was recovered hours later after an operation in which 85 youths were rounded up.

Separately, a man was electrocuted at Kamulu along Kangundo Road in Nairobi as he attempted to vandalise a power transformer. The body was found perched on the transformer yesterday morning. A man suspected to be an accomplice has been arrested.

In yet another incident, nearly 50 aliens were arrested in a police swoop in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area. However, Eastleigh North County Rep Osman Adow alleged that 13 of those arrested were innocent. He added that officers demanded up to Sh30,000 to free those arrested.

But Starehe police commander Samuel Anampiu  denied the claim, saying, “any officer found to be taking bribes and wrongfully arresting innocent Kenyans will be dealt with.”

“I sent my son to the supermarket only to hear he was arrested at Pangani police station,” said Sahara Hassan, a resident of Eastleigh. A big number of Somali refugees live in Eastleigh.

Additional reporting by ABDIMALIK HAJIR