Govt Officials Among 4 Killed In Al Shabaab Attack

Engineers from the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) were among four people killed in a suspected Al Shabaab attack that occurred on Wednesday, January 11 in Bura East, Garissa County.

Reports indicate that the vehicle they were travelling in, a Toyota Hilux Double Cabin model, ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by suspects attached to the notorious terrorist group.

The deceased were said to have been on a routine assessment of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project. They were travelling from Garissa to Hailey Chinese Camp and then to Bura East.

Wreckage of the vehicle involved in a suspected Al-Shabaab attack on Wednesday, January 11, 2023. /TWITTER.CHRIS SAMBU

The police further added that three bodies were recovered at the scene, but the fourth is suspected to have been annihilated in the wreckage of the blast.

The Toyota Hilux vehicle, registered as KBV 502S, was completely destroyed in the blast. The other two vehicles, which were also part of the convoy, turned back to Hailey camp immediately after the attack.

Garissa which sits on the Kenya-Somalia border continues to face the threat of attacks from the Shabaab terror outfit due to the vast and porous border which has made it easier for terrorist elements to infiltrate the country and stage attacks.

On December 31, a Kenya Defence Forces soldier was killed while four others were injured in a suspected Al-Shabaab attack in Lamu County.

Two weeks ago, at least two people were shot and killed by suspected Al-Shabaab terrorists who had disguised themselves as Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers and erected an illegal roadblock in Witu area, Lamu County.

On January 5, the United States (US) Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, which is administered by the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), offered a reward of up to Ksh1.24 billion ($10 million) for information regarding the whereabouts of Al Shabaab suspects who attacked the Manda Bay Airfield in Lamu County, Kenya.

The daring attack which occurred on January 5, 2020, at pre-dawn saw the terrorists kill a US soldier and two US Department of Defense (DoD) contractors, as well as wounding two other US service members and a third DoD contractor. 

The militants launched mortar rounds at the Kenyan and US positions inside the base and simultaneously fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and small arms at the adjacent Manda Bay Airfield.

DSS in a statement on Thursday, January 5 is appealing to anyone to produce information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of Maalim Ayman or any individual who committed, attempted, or conspired to commit, or aided or abetted in the commission of the attack on US and Kenyan personnel that began at around 5.30 am.