MANDERA KIDNAPPED TEACHERS STORY AL-SHABAAB HOAX SAYS THE GOV'T

BY ADOW JUBAT

Security agencies in the border County of Mandera, in the Northeastern region bordering the war-torn Somalia are "hunting" for individuals, who allegedly put entrapment for security officers on Friday, which has led to the injuries of 3 soldiers.

The soldiers, who were among a contingent of security personnel responding to information, that two Islamic teachers were taken hostage by suspected Somalia gunmen, were injured after they happened into a trap and came under hail of bullets.

Speaking to the Frontier Leaks on phone the Mandera County commissioner Joseph Ole Nkoyo who denied media reports claiming that teachers were kidnapped in the area by Somalia based militia men on Friday, said some people sympathetic to criminal activities has resorted to new device of “making” false insecurity stories and feed the same to the media to create despondency and unfounded fears among Kenyans.

“As far I’m aware there are no teacher or any other person for that matter who has been abducted in Mandera by anybody under any circumstance, but there was rumours alleging that two Islamic (Dugsi) teachers, were abducted and when our security officers responded swiftly they run into a advanced planned gun ambush, where 3 were injured”, He explained.

Nkoyo said, the security officers who responded to what they believe is a hoax alert by people now been man hunted by the police, come under fierce gun fire upon reaching the place where the alleged religious teachers were been held and in the ensuing gun fight that last some minutes the officers were wounded.

He said the assailants took to their feet after outgun by the security officers and managed to disappear into the swathe lushes of vegetation which has overgrown due to the recent rains in the area.

"The overgrown bushes has made easy for the assailants to camouflage themselves and escape" He reported.

He added “Upon investigations we couldn’t establish any Sheikh missing or any family reporting of a kidnapped person and therefore we suspect the rumours was a pure hoax generated by al-Shabaab or their sympathizers which was aimed at snaring our officers into their laid trap”,

The county commissioner accused the local media of running unverified reports which are based on hearsay in their bid to outdo each other for breaking a stories.

"This practice of the media fighting over who has break the break the story and which is regrettably a bad journalistic practice has hurt the local people and the Northeastern region as whole since investors and professionals coming to the area from other parts of the country were scared to coming to the county and the region", He noted in a tinge of bitterness in his voice.

“There are unknown people, who could even been affiliates of our enemies purporting to be in Mandera and interestingly having contacts of all media houses, who to feed the media with lies and instead of verifying their reports as demands by journalistic practice, the media publishes the unconfirmed rumours, which late goes viral in the social media platform causing unnecessary fears”, He lamented.

He added “When I read the story of kidnapped teachers in Mandera on some media in their online version, I was shocked and questioned the motives of some of our journalists/media houses. Most shockingly, I was quoted as the source of the news item, while I have never spoken to any journalists over any insecurity incident in the last 48 hours”,