Two soldiers, one Shabaab killed in battle, says OCPD
Kenya Defence Force soldiers attached to Amisom check their artillery gun at Afmadow military camp. PHOTO | FILE
Two KDF soldiers have been confirmed dead while two others were reported missing after they were attacked by a group of more than 10 Al-Shabaab terrorists on Sunday night.
Lamu East OCPD Samuel Obara Monday said that one Al-Shabaab militant was shot dead in the gun battle between Hindi in Kenya and Ras Kamboni in Somalia.
Mr Obara said the officers were transporting foodstuff from Hindi and Bar’goni to a military camp in Ras Kamboni when they were attacked by the terrorists blamed for a spate of attacks in both Kenya and Somalia.
Stuck in the mud
“On reaching Milimani area, 170km from Ras Kamboni, their vehicle was stuck in the mud due to heavy rains,” said Mr Obara. “They had to spend some hours at night. A group of people attacked them. An exchange of fire ensued and in the process two Kenyan soldiers were killed. We are still carrying out investigations,” said Mr Obara.
The attack came just days after a police officer was injured by terrorists in a grenade attack in Mombasa on Thursday night.
The officer and his two colleagues were escorting a suspected terrorist they had arrested in Mwembe Tayari to a police station when the grenade was hurled at them. In the ensuing commotion, the suspect and two of his accomplices escaped.
Yesterday, the Nation could not immediately establish how many soldiers were in the truck.
Attacks by Al-Shabaab have in the recent past led to a decline in tourism at the Coast after four countries — the US, the UK, France and Australia — issued advisories to their citizens against travelling to the Coast.
This led some UK tour companies to evacuate their patrons from tourist hotels in the South Coast.
Hoteliers at the weekend asked the government to waive VAT for one year to help them recover from the losses.
