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The Nairobian

Experts: Kenya Defence Forces survivors lucky

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By DAVID OHITO and CYRUS OMBATI | Jan 20, 2016

Jacinta Kajuju in a somber mood. Her husband 33 year old Martin Imbisi was one of the soldiers ambushed in the Somalia attack and information regarding his whereabouts remain vague.

Experts now say no army on earth could have resisted the devastating attack meted out on Kenyan troops by suicide bombers using high-calibre explosives.

Details of the devastating impact of the vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices assault on Kenyan troops emerged as experts said the Kenya Defence Forces was lucky to have survivors.

KDF’s search, rescue and recovery mission entered its fifth day yesterday. Securing the scene of the military camp has been delicate as there are fears of booby traps planted by Al Shabaab militants.

Experts explained that raging fires follow the explosions and some militants lie in wait to gun down any survivors.

The armoured personnel carriers used by Al Shabaab were stolen from Burundian and Ugandan forces last year. Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo said soldiers affected by the attack are a company-size force. In the military, the term company refers to a unit typically consisting of between 80 and 250 soldiers commanded by a major or captain.

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Retired Kenya Army Brigadier Samuel Kirugi, who served in the artillery division, explained that the vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices used to attack the Kenyan base were similar to the 1998 August bomb that targeted the United States Embassy along Haile Selassie Avenue in Nairobi.

“We must commend the KDF troops for having survivors. The commanders must have expected this kind of an attack and must have deployed the soldiers strategically far from the epicentre,” Kirugi said.

Furious Fire

He added the impact of one explosion from the epicentre shatters anything within a radius of 250m in an open air space.

“You can imagine three laden vehicles loaded with up to 500kg of high-impact explosives going off after each other.

“Coupled with ammunition that explode and a furious fire that engulfs the target, it leaves no chance for anybody to survive,” Brigadier Kiruki said.

This emerged even as the military commander of the camp was reportedly unaccounted for.