28 KILLED IN AL-SHABAAB ATTACK IN MANDERA

BY ADOW JUBAT

                                  Senior security officer shocked with destruction caused previous al-shabaab attack in Mandera central AP post

At twenty eight people were killed on Saturday morning along the insecurity prone Kenya-Somali border by suspected Somali based Islamist militia-a-Shabaab.

The heavily armed militias numbering over hundred according to the police waylaid Nairobi bound bus, which has left the incursion prone Mandera town at 5.45 am in morning between Mandera and Arabia.

Confirming the incident, Mandera police commissioner Noah Mwavinda said the 28 passengers including two security officers heading home for their annual leave were executed some meters from the main road where the bus was hijacked a moment earlier.

 “I can confirm to you that there was unfortunate incident this morning where about 28 innocent travelers were brutal killed by al-Shabaab militia after the bus they were traveling in was hijacked and driven some meters off the main road”,

He added “We are now in the preparation of sending security reinforcement, medical staffs and ambulance to retrieve and transport the bodies of the deceased to Mandera town. Military are already there to pursue the heartless killers”,

Mwavinda said the militia commandeered the bus, forced the all passengers to alight before sorting them into two groups based on the faith they profess, before executing the targeting victims whom they identified as non-Muslim.

 “There were about 60 passengers in the bus owned by Mekka travelers. The militia ambushed it at around 8 kilometers shortly after it left Mandera town between Omar jillow and Arabia” the county police boss added.

Mwavinda said, after sorting the passengers based on faith, they ordered all other commuters to go away as they returned the non-Muslim into the bus and attempted to escape with them using the bus, but the bus got stuck in the muddy and swampy weather road.

He added”They turned on the captive and executed all of them before escaping on foot toward the porous Somali/Kenya border”,

The Mandera County police chief said, 4 were women among those killed in the macabre attack.

He said joint security personnel led by the Kenya defense force aided by aerial support were in the scene of the attack to retrieve the bodies of the deceased and pursue the killers who were reported escaping toward the Somali border, which is less than 4 kilometers from the scene of the bloody raid.

Preparation were under way by the time of going to the press at Mandera district referral hospital as the County government call on duty all nurses and other medical officers from their off to assist in handling the emergency arrival of bodies.

The attacks come barely two days after government security officials in the coastal city of Mombasa closed two mosques after allegedly found hosting radicalized Muslim youth and cache of firearms among them hand grenades.

Towns in North-East region (Mandera, Wajir and Garissa) has bore the brunt of the revenge attacks by the Somali based Al-Qaeda inspired Islamist, who repeatedly declared a deadly attacks in Kenya that will turn rivers into running human bloods and tall building into debris of destruction.

                               Officers inspecting destruction caused by previous al-Shabaab raid in Mandera

Arabia ward member of the County assembly (MCA) Abdullahi Abdirahman who spoke to Standard on phone said the attacks happened 15 kilometers from Arabia town at about 5 am local time, and blamed the national government for the beastly killing of innocent commuters.

He accused the government of not taking their repeated calls to establish a strong military presence in Arabia to thwarted recurrent attacks from suspected Islamist militia, who frequently ambushed vehicles using Mandera-Arabia rod and killing, maiming and looting people at will.

“We had more than 15 militia attacks that has led to death and maiming of travelers in this road for the last one year alone. We have pleaded the government to provide security, but they have turned deaf ears and here today we are experiencing avoidable massacre” he lamented.

On Wednesday night two civilians were injured after unknown armed criminals lobbed hand grenades and gun fire at group of people who were walking on the street in Wajir town.

Ends…..