The family of a Kenya Defence Forces soldier from Osupuko village in Trans Mara West, Narok county, is mourning his death, three weeks after the January 25 El Adde attack.
Elias Kirionki’s family had been optimistic that he would return home alive after his nephew got a missed call from his phone three days after the attack.
The missed call made the family believe he was one of the officers who escaped the Al Shabaab attack in which an unknown number of soldiers died.
When the Star visited the family soon after the attack, Kirionki’s wife Magdalene was optimistic her husband was alive and well.
She had hopes that he would return soon and they would hold a thanksgiving ceremony for his survival.
However, on Friday, the family received information from KDF headquarters in Nairobi that Kirionki was one of the soldiers who died.
Some family members, who had camped at KDF headquarters waiting for information about him, were told his body was burnt beyond recognition and is at the Forces Memorial Hospital mortuary.
Kirionki’s elder brother Andrew said they were able to identify the body.
“We positively identified the body, which, despite the burns was still intact. His sixth fingers made us identify him,” he said.
Former Internal Security minister Julius Sunkuli condoled with the family.
