Four officers are reported missing after al Shabaab militants attacked a police post in Hamey, Dadaab subcounty, 10km from the Kenya-Somalia border.
On Wednesday night, militants, whose number was not immediately established, stormed the police post in Garissa county and opened fire indiscriminately.
A source who spoke to the Star on the phone said the militants injured three officers, one of them critically. “Two of the officers who sustained minor injuries were taken to the Dadaab Hospital and later discharged,” he said. The camp had 14 officers. The source said only 10 can been accounted for.
In May last year, gunmen believed to be al Shabaab militants attacked the same police post and killed an officer. Two of the attackers were killed in the midnight ambush.
The attackers tried to carry away the body of the slain officer but were overpowered and fled. Police said the gunmen, who numbered about 20, struck at midnight when most of the officers were asleep.
Security had been stabilised in Garissa, with no attacks reported for several months now.there was also attacks on police camps.
In May last year, 40 heavily armed suspected al Shabaab militants invaded Yumbis village in Fafi subcounty, not far from Hamey, and lectured villagers from dusk to dawn.
Another group lectured villagers at the border in Hulugho subcounty. These incidents prompted a major operation to flush out the militants. Since then the militants had not been seen or heard in the villages or attacking police camps until on Wednesday.
Northeastern regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh had said security had been increased and the militants would not carry out any attack since all loopholes had been sealed off.