GARISSA, Kenya – At least two General Service Unit officers were killed and four others seriously injured on Monday morning when a remote-controlled bomb hit their vehicle in Dadaab, Garissa County.
Police said the attack took place at Ege Dam along Dadaab-Garissa road when the officers were headed to provide security during the ongoing national exams.
The vehicle was badly damaged in the morning attack. The injured were rushed to hospital and admitted.
A search was conducted in the area in vain. The incident was anticipated as the terrorists had been sighted in the area.
At the weekend multi agency teams destroyed a logistics base used by al Shabaab militants in Dahun in Fafi, Garissa county and recovered assorted foodstuffs.
The operation recovered rice, sugar and water. The officers destroyed the food and continued to pursue the terrorists who were using the base.
Police said by the time the team arrived there the terrorists had escaped.
This is the latest such recovery to be made in the same area in two weeks.
Police said the area is being used as a logistics base for the terrorists who move to attack targets and retreat there.
At least three al Shabaab militants were on October 17 killed in an ambush by police in Fafi, Garissa County and assorted food found on them.
They were transporting the food on donkey carts to a new makeshift when they were ambushed, police said.
The security team killed three militants while others escaped with serious injuries and recovered foodstuffs, water and a collapsible tank, said a police official aware of the operation.
Multi-agency teams have mounted operations in the areas near the Somali-Kenya border.
The incident came barely a week after two al-Shabaab militants were killed when a bomb they were setting up exploded on them in the Amuma area in the county.
Police said the two were placing the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on the main supply route used by security agencies and other motorists when it exploded.
The area has suffered repeated attacks that have rendered it inhabitable.
This has forced the government to suspend a plan to reopen the border that was closed in 2011. Al Shabaab militants are behind the attacks.
They cross the porous border for attacks. On October 21, bodyguards attached to President William Ruto’s national security adviser Monica Juma shot and killed an al Shabaab terrorist who had attacked them in Nguni, Mwingi.
The slain terrorist is said to have been part of an eight gang that had been sent from Somalia for a mission in the area.
The officers recovered a rifle with 23 bullets, two pairs of shoes, sufuria with foodstuffs, and a knife.
He was using a torch to flag down the cars.
A solar panel, scissors, a pen, and a black bag pack containing 38 rounds of ammunition were also retrieved from the scene.
Other recovered items included seven notes of Somali currency, Sh2,800, two mobile phones, and one extended cartridge.
Source: The Star
