by CYRUS OMBATI
Monday May 15, 2023
At least two police officers were injured when they were ambushed by gunmen believed to be al-Shabaab militants in Rhamu, Mandera County.
The incident happened Saturday, May 13 when the gunmen ambushed two vehicles that were carrying 25 General Service Units along Rhamu-Elwak road.
The team was heading to Mandera from Nairobi when they were attacked by suspected al-Shabaab militants at around 4 am at Isaqora area, police said.
Their two vehicles- a land cruiser and a lorry-were sprayed with bullets from both sides of the road leaving two officers injured. The others escaped unhurt after jumping off the moving vehicles.
The injured were hit in the legs and right palm respectively, police said.
All the other officers were later accounted for with no injuries.
A reinforcement from Rhamu police station responded to the scene and collected spent cartridges of assorted calibers with fragments of suspected IED. This is the latest such incident to happen.
On May 1, six GSU officers injured after their vehicle was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device in Rhamu area, Mandera County.
The officers were driving in an official vehicle headed for Mandera town when they ran over a set bomb.
Witnesses and police said two of the officers were critically injured.
They were all taken to a local hospital amid plans for evacuation to Nairobi. It is believed the bomb was set up by al-Shabaab militants or their sympathisers who are operating in the area.
Response teams that arrived there minutes later did not find those behind the incident.
Police said they are investigating the attacks which are new after a long lull.
The lull was a culmination of ramadhan period during which almost zero incidents of attack were reported.
The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border which is usually breached by terrorists who attack and escape.
More personnel have been deployed in the area in efforts to tame the attacks.
Locals have always been urged to work with security agencies to tame the trend. This is because such attacks cannot happen without the knowledge of the locals.
This comes amid heightened security following fears the terror group could be planning an attack after a long lull.
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.
Al-Shabaab terrorists have been attacking places in the region, especially in Mandera and Garissa counties after breaching security zones, which left dozens of civilians and security officials dead and wounded.
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.