Raiders wanted guns, says KDF boss

The 10-man gang that tried to raid the Nyali Army Barracks in Mombasa on Sunday intended to steal weapons, Vice-Chief of Defence Forces Samson Mwathethe said in Nairobi on Monday.

Lt-Gen Mwathethe also said that one soldier attacked with a machete during the morning raid died at Pandya Hospital in Mombasa the same day.

The soldier had signalled to one of the attackers to stop just a few metres from the gate. He then moved close to him and asked what his mission there was and also demanded to see the man’s identity card.

The attacker pretended to reach for his ID card but drew a machete concealed in his clothes and struck the soldier.

Just then, his accomplices emerged from their hideouts and ran towards the barracks in an attempt to climb over the fence.

FORESTED AREA

Other soldiers on sentry duty opened fire, killing six of them on the spot. A seventh was felled as he fled towards a forested area nearby while another was arrested. Two escaped.

“They had the ill intentions of grabbing weapons from soldiers at the barracks. This was the first and hope it is the last (attempt),” Lt-Gen Mwathethe told a press conference at the KDF headquarters.

“When you approach a barracks, there is always readiness to act as it happened in that incident.”

He said the man in custody was being interrogated to establish the identity of the attackers and the group they subscribed to.

“We believe we shall know exactly who was behind this attack,” he said.

He disclosed that guards at military installations were long before the attack put on high alert because of the security situation in the country.

“Because of the situation in the country, the alertness in all military barracks was raised,” Lt-Gen Mwathethe said.

SUPPOSED CHARMS

Other sources, citing preliminary investigations, said the attackers, who were youths aged between 20 and 30 years, had been made to believe that bullets shot at them would be harmless.

The sources, who cannot be named because they are not authorised to divulge information on ongoing investigations, said the navy blue ribbons the attackers had around their heads were supposed to be charms to protect them from bullets.

The investigations have also linked them to the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), judging by the way they attacked.

When MRC youths attacked and killed police officers on election day last year, they had red ribbons around their heads.

Sunday’s attack was carried out simultaneously with another at an Administration Police camp in Malindi.

The two raids were aimed at portraying security agents as weak, according to another security official who requested not to be named.

MALINDI ATTACK

Gates at Kenya Defence Forces installations are usually manned by armed sentries, with machine guns or some other heavy-calibre weapons, covering the entrance from an elevated sentry box.

It is highly likely that there are other rings of security as one moves into the installation. The system is intended to stop an army from shooting its way in.

In the Malindi attack, gunmen destroyed property before they were overpowered by officers.

The more than 20 men, armed with guns, pangas and other weapons, struck at 5.20am and smashed vehicles, including tuktuks parked in the camp.

Their attempt to burn buildings failed. Two cans of petrol were found near one of the houses that the gang had attempted to set on fire.

DISARMAMENT

In a related development, the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida-Kenya) has called for the speedy disarmament and prosecution of the people involved in the killing of security agents in the North Rift and Mombasa.

Fida chairperson Ruth Aura, while condemning the killings in Kapedo and the raids on army barracks and the AP camp at the Coast, also said the raids had raised serious security concerns that the government should address urgently to restore the confidence of Kenyans.

“It is saddening to receive news of brutality against police not to mention that past incidents such as (the) Baragoi attack are yet to be resolved. The massacre witnessed in Kapedo and other parts of the country must not be trivialised as tribal flare-up, but rather a manifestation of a broken governance system that requires urgent fixing,” Ms Aura said.

Additional reporting by Mazera Ndurya and Daniel Nyassy