MANDERA – A police officer was on Friday killed while two others were injured when al Shabaab terrorists fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a Landcruiser pickup that was carrying elite officers in Mandera County.
The vehicle was carrying Quick Response Unit (QRU) officers on regular patrol when they were attacked in Mandera North near the Kenya-Somalia border.
Police said one officer was killed while two others sustained serious injuries in the Friday morning incident.
The attackers escaped soon after the incident and no arrests have been made, police said.
The injured officers were rushed to hospital with multiple injuries.
This came as Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki flew to Garissa for a Joint Security Briefing with North Eastern Regional Security and Intelligence officers.
The aim of the meeting was to strategise on how to counter the al Shabaab amid ongoing plans to reopen the Kenya-Somalia border, officials said.
Kindiki announced that after more than eight years of suspension, operations at the Eastern Regional Immigration Offices in Garissa will resume on July 1, 2023.
Meanwhile, there are fears among non-locals in a village in Mandera County after gunmen believed to be al Shabaab terrorists killed one of the reservists guarding them.
Mohamud Mohammed Abdulahi was ambushed and killed in his house about 500 meters from a place he and two others had been taking care of non-local teachers at Guticha Primary School.
He was shot on May 29 at about 3am after he went to his house within Ashabito division.
Three reservists were guarding non-local teachers at the school following continued fears and reports that al Shabaab was targeting them for an attack.
This has sparked fears the militants could be planning to attack the non-local teachers who are sustaining the education system in the area.
Non-local teachers have in the past been targeted and killed by the terrorists as a way of scaring them from the area.
This prompted owners of private schools to hire vigilante groups and police reservists to guard them.
Witnesses said they saw about 15 men escape the scene soon after the shooting of the official.
Police arrived at the scene moments later and processed it before allowing the family to bury the body.
This is the latest incident in the area amid fears the terrorists are trying to set up a base there for planned attack.
On May 1, six police officers were injured after their vehicle was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device in Rhamu area, Mandera County.
The officers were driving in an official vehicle towards Mandera town when they ran over a improvised explosive device.
Another team was attacked in the same area days later but managed to escape unhurt.
On May 22, multi-agency teams stopped a planned terrorist attack and recovered an arsenal of weapons in an operation in Alango, Garrissa County.
Police said the team recovered six AK47 rifles, two Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), PKM, two grenades and other items.
The team also found warheads, 20 magazines and a belt of 200 rounds, a cell phone and memory card.
This is after the team raided an al Shabaab camp in Alango in Garissa which militants planned to use to launch attacks in the County.
More personnel have been deployed in the area in efforts to tame the attacks.
Area residents have always been urged to work with security agencies to tame the trend.
This is because such attacks cannot happen without the knowledge of the locals.
Friday’s came amid heighted security following fears the al Shabaab could be planning an attack after a long lull.
The border region has borne the brunt of repeated attacks from the militants who are at times aided by locals.
Somalia has not had a stable government after the fall of Siad Barre in 1991.
The area is near the Somalia border and the militants usually cross at will and stage attacks before escaping back.
Al Shabaab terrorists have been attacking places in the region, especially in Mandera and Garissa counties after breaching security zones, which left dozens of civilians and security officials dead and wounded.
The terrorists have been planting explosives on the routes used by the security agencies.
