GARISSA, Kenya – A team of police officers foiled a planned attack on passenger service vehicles when they detected and recovered an Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) in Dadaab, Garissa County.
The bomb had been set up by suspected al-Shabaab terrorists and targeted PSVs and security cars using the Abdisugow road at Tawfiq village.
A team of police who were patrolling the area detected the bomb and secured it on Monday.
They then redirected motorists on the route for their safety.
Experts from the Bomb Disposal Unit arrived at the scene and safely disposed of the explosive, officials said.
Officials said the bomb would have caused much destruction and deaths.
The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border, which is usually breached by al Shabaab terrorists who attack and maim many.
Police say they have intensified operations on the border area.
At the same time, a multi-agency security team raided an al Shabaab logistical base in Amuma in Garissa and recovered foodstuffs.
The food included maize flour, and sugar water. Officials said the logistics served the terrorists’ explosive experts newly deployed from Somalia to attack security personnel in the region using IEDs.
The incident came as several passengers narrowly escaped death after they were attacked by gunmen believed to be members of the terror group at Bukuree Dam along the Garissa-Hulugho road.
Police say the travellers whose number is yet to be established, were in a probox car heading towards Garissa when they were attacked.
The attackers fired one round at the car which hit the tyre after the driver declined to stop and instead sped off.
The driver drove at a high speed forcing the armed men to fire at the car hitting the right rear tyre, police said.
The driver and the travellers who escaped with no injuries were forced to abandon the car and scamper for safety.
Officers from Iftin police station who were on a normal patrol at areas of Abudiluge, later visited the scene where they recovered one cartridge said to have been fired from an AK47 rifle.
The vehicle was also towed to Garissa police station.
A multi-agency team, it says, has been mobilised to comb the area with a view to arresting them.
The incident comes 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 IED on the main supply route used by security agencies and other motorists when it exploded.
Security teams that responded to the scene found the badly mutilated bodies sprawled all over the area.
Officials said this indicates the terrorists are now attempting to deploy the explosives after a slight decline in attacks in September.
Witnesses said the gang had dug a usually busy route ready for the emplacement of the remote-controlled bomb when it went off.
Such incidents are common in the area amid calls on residents to raise alarm on them whenever they witness the same.
Police say they have upped their operations in the area to tame the plans for the attacks.
Source: The Start
