By CHETI PRAXIDES
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
KDF officers during a patrol Mombasa town. 10 officers attached to the unit narrowly escaped death after al Shabaab militants blew their tanker at Kiunga, Lamu county. \FILE
More than five KDF soldiers are nursing injuries after their tank ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) at Ishakani area in Kiunga division, Lamu East on Tuesday morning.
The soldiers, who are said to have been clearing bushes at a site where the security perimeter wall is being put up on the Lamu-Somali border, escaped death by a whisker in the 9am incident.
Their carrier unknowingly ran over the IED, suspected to have been planted by al Shabaab militants - who have been terrorising the region for the past two years.
A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the damage done to the tanker was however irreparable.
"The soldiers were in the tanker clearing bushes at the Ishakani site when the tank went over the IED which exploded. All the soldiers came out alive.
They just sustained some injuries, nothing serious.The tanker was badly damaged such that you cannot even identify it again for those who saw it before," the officer said.
When contacted, Lamu county commissioner Joseph Kanyiri said he was not aware of the incident but promised to investigate and provide more information.
The militants seem to have changed their tact from targeting civilians - especially travelers - to military and police vehicles.
The use of IED is becoming more common in the latest attacks.About 10 days ago on July 14, an Alshabaab militant was gunned down after a gang of over 20 militants tried to force entry into an Rapid Deployment Unit-RDU camp in Basuba, Lamu East.
On July 10, more than 10 GSU officers survived after suspected al Shabaab militants blew their carrier at Baure area of Lamu East, using IED.