Saturday, November 26, 2011
Suspected Al Shabaab militants attacked Arabia village, 45km south of Mandera town, on Friday, and escaped with a G-3 rifle from the local Administration Police station before blowing up a communication mast.
Colonel Oguna during a press briefing at the Department of Defence on Saturday. [PICTURE: GOVEDI ASUTSA/STANDARD]
Reports indicate that nearly 40 militants armed with AK-47 rifles and bazookas entered the town on Friday night from the Somalia border, in two Land Cruisers and fired at the AP camp forcing the six officers attached to the post to flee after realising they were out numbered.
The Somalia militia group besieged the village for more than three hours. The militants then escaped with a gun the APs abandoned. But before they retreated, they blew up a Safaricom mast at the police station. They also destroyed the police radio communication equipment.
A local civic leader, Hussein Aden Wiriq, said the attackers ransacked the deserted Administration Police line and even made away with several personal effects, but the armoury not touched.
And on Saturday while speaking during the weekly briefing on the progress of Operation Linda Nchi, Department of Defence spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna said the Kenyan troops had made significant inroads into Al Shabaab-controlled areas in the past week.
Oguna added that Kenya has been receiving intelligence from local Somalis on Al Shabaab hideouts. "This has enabled us to conduct raids and defeat them. We have won over the hearts and minds of the local communities, who are giving us crucial intelligence," said Col Oguna.
He said, so far, the country has lost 10 officers while one is missing. Oguna said the troops had consolidated the control of key areas previously occupied by the militia group.
He said the southern sector was key for the troops’ activities in the past few days since this is where the rag-tag militia had its key bases.
He said the camps in the southern region of Somalia were used to train recruits from Kenya and other countries. "Our airborne troops have destroyed the camps and killed several militants," said Oguna.
However, Colonel Oguna said that 11 officers have been injured during the operation, which is in its sixth week.
The injured, he said, are recovering at the Forces Memorial Hospital, Nairobi. Oguna said five of the officers died after a military helicopter crashed near Liboi.
He said four others died in the operation, while another officer succumbed to injuries after their military truck was blown up in Mandera. Oguna said the joint forces had also killed hundreds of Al Shabaab fighters.
He was speaking at the Depart of Defence headquarters in Nairobi, accompanied by Major Emmanuel Chirchir and Lindsey Kiptiness, the deputy director, Horn of Africa Division, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mechanical problems
He also revealed that a military helicopter developed mechanical problems on Friday while in the operation, but was brought down safely.
"Our pilots are well trained; they landed safely. They have been flown to Nairobi to join their families after the hitch," said Oguna.
Kenya sent troops and tanks into Somalia to fight the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab insurgents, accused of a series of attacks in the country, including abduction of four foreigners.
Oguna said the militia was facing growing pressure as regional armies slowly encircle them, with Kenyan forces in the south, Ugandan and Burundian African Union forces in Mogadishu, and Ethiopian troops in the west.
Kenyan and Somali troops are conducting door-to-door searches for Al Shabaab militants in Ras Kamboni, Munarani, Burgavo, Taabta, Qoqani, Dhobley, Busaar, and Jilib.
Oguna said the Kenyan troops were also involved in the provision of humanitarian aid in Somalia. He said the troops were offering medical care and distributing food to hungry locals.
— Reports by Mutinda Mwanzia, Abdisalan Ahmed and Adow Jubat