Two officers hurt in Mandera terror attack

Two police officers were injured when a vehicle they were travelling in was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED).

The two were part of a team patrolling Lafey-Fino Road when one of their two vehicles ran over an IED.

North Eastern regional coordinator Mohamed Saleh said the incident happened on Saturday morning in Lafey as the officers patrolled the common border.

“Those injured were treated and discharged. They (Al Shabaab militants) seem to be trying to come back with such explosives,” he said.

He added more officers were deployed to the area in a bid to hunt those behind the planting of the IED.

Saleh said another attack happened in Liboi where a convoy carrying foodstuff for the AMISOM troops in Somalia was attacked.

One of the civilian trucks was damaged when it ran over an IED.

Witnesses said there was a brief exchange between the troops who were escorting the convoy before the gunmen managed to escape in the area between Liboi and Harhar.

“It was not a big attack but they had planted an IED on the road, disrupting the flow of the convoy in the Liboi incident on Friday,” said Saleh.

RENEWED ATTACKS

But locals said the gunmen fled after more officers from the General Service Unit arrived at the scene.

No casualties were reported in the exchange even as the convoy temporarily suspended its journey to Somalia.

Officials suspect the renewed attacks are a reaction to the killing of Al-Shabaab leader Mohamed Gamadhere Kuno in Somalia.

There are fears of more attacks, which may spread to other regions ahead of the start of the Ramadhan period, which starts today.

Security agencies have called on the public to be alert and report any suspicious objects and persons.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet visited various security camps in Lamu County on Saturday to assess the security situation.

It also followed reports the insurgents could target military and police units under the Linda Boni operation.

Mr Boinnet called for general alertness and encouraged the officers in the operations to be dedicated.

There has been a lull in attacks in the past months in what officials say was sustained operations against the militants.

The new attacks are believed to be out of reaction of the killing of Kuno, who was the mastermind of the Garissa University attack last April in which 148 people, majority of them students, were killed.

Kuno, who was Kenyan, was killed alongside three other commanders on May 31 in an operation by the US and local military.