More perish in fresh Mandera crime wave

Five people were killed and others wounded in three separate incidents in Mandera County.

County Assembly member Issack Abdi Hassan (Takaba ward) told the Nation that raiders armed with automatic weapons opened fire on residents of Gare village yesterday morning killing three people on the spot.

The armed men were suspected to be from a neighbouring clan.

Mr Hassan added that an unknown number of livestock including camels, sheep and goats were killed in the attack that lasted for over 20 minutes.

The MCA said the injured were taken to Takaba Sub-county Hospital, where they were treated for gunshot wounds.

The attack occurred between Dandu and Gofole area some 30 kilometres from Takaba town where two people were also killed last week by attackers believed to be from same group.
The latest killings push to 20 the number of villagers killed in clashes between two rival Somali clans; the Degodia and Garre. The violence started two weeks ago over a 5km land parcel dividing Wajir and Mandera counties.

In the second incident, a truck driver was shot dead by unknown gunmen suspected to be Al-Shabaab militants in Ledi, 6km from Mandera town.

Witnesses said the driver’s body was still lying on the ground with security officers fearing the heavily armed men were still in the area.

“There is fear everywhere, police reservists are ill-equipped. Business in Mandera town has come to a stand still and we do not know where to go,” Warankara ward representative Abdirashid Maalim said.

In yet another incident, suspected Somali militants ambushed a bus heading to Mandera from Nairobi.

Mandera East OCPD Ekai Maruki said the assailants waylaid the E-coach bus at Arabia, shooting a passenger dead and injuring two others.