GARISSA BRIDGE SCARE: AL-SHABAAB MISSION ABORTED

SECURITY SCARE

BY ADOW JUBAT

Transport to and from North-Eastern region was paralyzed for over ten hours after a suspected explosive device was found under Garissa/Tana Bridge.

Hundreds of vehicles and commuters remained stranded on the both sides of the five meters bridge which is the only entry and outlet into to the remote region bordering the war-torn Somalia.

Security personnel including ballistic experts who were called in from Nairobi condoned off the bridge as they search for the suspected explosive that was first noticed by a members of the public who was crossing the bridge on foot.

The security scare has led to  a massive cancellation of bookings in major hotels within Garissa town with over ten seminars also being cancelled leading to massive loss of income by the local traders, with some hoteliers’ already estimating  losses of millions of shillings in the booking cancellation.

According to an eye witnesses, the suspected improvised Explosive Device [IED] that sparked panic in Garissa and neigbouring Tana River districts was found attached neatly beneath the bridge by unsuspecting commuter who raised the attentions of the police manning the bridge.

The witness who declined to be named said that police officers led ballistic experts who come by military helicopter from Nairobi removed the device and directed the security officers manning the bridge to stop vehicles and people to use it until they ensure it was safe for use .

The Islamists militia group Al-Shabaab who were blamed for spates of kidnappings of foreign aid workers working in North-Eastern region and incursion into the border districts has led to the invasion of the Kenya Defence Force has repeatedly threatened to explode the bridge to cut off the Military  supplies to KDF fighting inside Somalia flush out the terror linked group.

The bridge security scare come barely five hours after a similar incident disrupted humanitarian activities at the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp for the better part of Thursday.

In the Dadaab incident a suspected IED was found at the Dadaab main offices for humanitarian aid organizations operating in the area which led to a circulation of security threat that resulted to the suspension of all activities within the refugee camps.

Speaking to the press over the two incidents North eastern PC James Ole Serian said that “a device like bomb was seen at the middle of the road last night, one man who seen seated next to the place where the device was found was arrested and interrogated by the police,”.

He added: “When the police interrogated the man, he claimed to be resting and was ordered by the police to leave the area immediately, when the security personnel went to the check the place where he was seated they saw some bottle they suspected to be an IED,”.

The PC further said that bomb experts were called in to check and found that what caused the security scare it was an empty bottle tired beneath the bridge. However, they took the precaution and closed the bridge from public use for safety and he urged the public to be extra alert so as not to be caught off guard by terrorist attacks.

ENDS.