by CYRUS OMBATI
Chief Crime Reporter
Saturday August 6, 2022
WAR ON TERROR: Wreckage of the vehicle that ran over an IED in Dadach Qatarow between Ires Kinto and Domog along the Wargadud-Takaba Road, Mandera,on Thursday, July 14
Image: HANDOUT
Five police officers were injured on Thursday in an attack by al Shabaab militants in Mandera.
Police said one of the officers sustained a gunshot wound on the forehead, while the other four sustained injuries as they jumped out of their patrol vehicles to take cover.
The officers were treated at Elwak Subcounty Referral Hospital and discharged.
The team which was on patrol when they were attacked managed to repulse the attackers who were armed with rifles.
They were reinforced by officers from the Kenya Defence Forces and the General Service Unit in the area.
Police said the attack occurred at Bamba Ola stretch between Wargadud and Elwak.
The police motor vehicle had its rear screen shattered, exhaust pipe damaged, chassis shot on the left rear tyre area and a bullet hole on the rear roof rails.
On August 1, three police officers were injured in a bomb attack on their camp at the El-Ram, Kutulo in Mandera.
It was the second such attack by the militants on the Anti-Stock Theft Unit base.
Police said they attacked the camp using six HE bombs and followed with gun attacks at about 4 pm.
Three officers sustained deep cuts as others fought off the incursion.
The team in the camp managed to repulse the attackers after about 20 minutes of battle.
Witnesses told police the attackers were about 50 and were repulsed after a military jet that responded there scared them.
Kenya Defence Forces jet had to come to the aid of the officers who were fighting to contain a planned overrun by the gang that had crossed from the nearby Kenya-Somalia border.
A similar incident happened there on July 25 leaving three officers with injuries.
This comes days after another team of security agents escaped death narrowly after a herder alerted them of bombs on the road in Liboi, Garissa.
The team was using Kulan-Liboi road when a herder signalled them and alerted them there was a freshly dug area and he suspected there was a bomb that had been planted by al Shabaab terrorists.
This prompted them to change their route and later alerted experts.The team visited the scene and established that two Improvised Explosive Devises had been planted in the middle of the road.
They used their expertise to remove the IEDs and later destroyed them.
Police said their intelligence had indicated there are dozens of al Shabaab terrorists who have invaded the area to attack residents.
Last week tried to attack Korof Harar police station using Rocket Propelled Grenades but were repulsed.
Another group of terrorists set up an IED on the Mandera-Rhamu Road in Qumbiso but residents alerted the police.
Police fear the terrorists are planning a bigger attack in the area and have called for heightened vigilance.
North Eastern police boss George Seda called on residents to help them tame the movements of the terrorists who are crossing from the main Kenya-Somalia border that is porous.
It is the latest such incident to happen in a series in the past months.
This is despite campaigns to address the insecurity menace in the area.
This has affected the education sector, forcing tens of teachers who are non-locals to leave.
Other professionals also escaped amid mounted security operations.
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.
The terrorists have been planting explosives on the routes used by the security agencies.
Kenyan troops are in Somalia to pursue and suppress the activities of the terror group.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris