Head of Operation Linda Boni moved in wake of Shabaab attacks

The head of the Operation Linda Boni charged with flushing out Al-Shabaab militants out of Boni forest in Lamu County has been moved to Harambee House.

Mr James Ole Serian will be replaced by Lamu County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri who takes the responsibility with immediate effect.

Details about the changes are still scanty, but sources at Harambee House stated that the move was prompted by recent Al-Shabaab attacks which have led to the deaths of police officers and civilians.

The changes come just a few days after Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i was appointed to act as the Interior Cabinet Secretary following the death of Maj-Gen (rtd) Joseph Nkaissery.

SLEEPER CELLS

Operation Linda Boni Forest was launched by Mr Nkaissery in September 2015 as a strategy to flush out militants after it emerged that they had sleeper cells inside the dense Boni forest.

The operation followed the massacre of over 100 civilians in Mpeketoni village on different dates in 2014.

The militants believed to have numbered over 300 escaped into the forest where the National Intelligence Service (NIS) later revealed, had several sleeper cells.

Just last week, the Al-Shabaab militants beheaded nine people in Jima Village just a week after killing three policemen and three other people in Pandanguo.

ATTACK GSU CAMP

National Police Service Spokesman, George Kinoti said in a statement, that the attackers used rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and other small arms in the attack, in which several tents were destroyed.

On Monday this week, the terrorists were repulsed after they tried to attack the Mokowe General Service Unit (GSU) camp.

This happened only a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the police and other security forces to ‘Kill and bury’ the militants.