By Cyrus Ombati
Two police officers were Thursday morning shot and seriously wounded in an ambush by gunmen along the Mandera-Garisa road in the latest assault on Kenyan security agents by Al Shabaab militants.
The officers were attacked in Arabia area on the main road as they raced towards Garisa Town at about 9 am.
A survivor, Mr John Mbaluka said the attackers were about 40 and had distributed themselves in groups.
Mbaluka, who is the area deputy OCPD, told The Standard on phone he survived by a whisker and that among the wounded was his driver and another officer.
“They attacked us six times until the last one where they stood in front of the vehicle sprayed bullets at us. It is by grace of God that I am alive. Their agenda was to finish us,” said Mbaluka.
One of the injured officers had a bullet lodged in the ribs while the other had his hands injured.
Mbaluka narrated how he jumped out of the moving car after the driver had been demobilized by a bullet and engaged the gang.
After the confrontation, he drove back to Arabia Town which is a few kilometers away from Mandera with the injured officers.
Mbaluka explained there was no way he and the officers could have fought the attackers because they were numrous and heavily armed.
Asked on who he thought they were, he said they are members of Al Shabaab.
“Those are Al Shabaab, and they are planning to commit crimes there. We have called the military which will help to transfer the injured and reinforce us.”
