Security forces are on high alert after reports that heavily armed al Shabaab militants intend to attack several targets in Garissa, Wajir, Tana River and Mandera.
Pastoralists are said to have seen 23 militants armed with AK 47 rifles and other sophisticated weapons in Wajir and Mandera.
Seven were in Welmarer grazing fields on Sunday afternoon. They were suspected to be headed to Ausmudule in Tarbaj subcounty.
Eleven of the militants were spotted resting under a tree near a dam between Khorof–Harar and El-Ram trading centres the same day under the command of Ibrahim Okola.
The area is 10 kilometres from Khorof–Harar in Kotulo subcounty, Mandera. Five al Shabaab militants were seen at Bi-Idley near Guji plains. They had a machine gun and AK 47 rifles.
The security forces, including National Police Service’s battle-hardened Border Patrol and Rapid Deployment units as well as the KDF’s Special Forces, are said to be aware of the terrorists’ movements.
For the past one week, the group has prevented the militants from carrying out any attack through use of timely intelligence.
The terror group is suspected to have changed its modus operandi. Some of its fighters were heard negotiating the price of a motorbike for between Sh80,000 and Sh100,000. It is suspected that they might use the bike in planting Improvised Explosive Devices on Wajir and Mandera roads.
Kenyan security forces have frustrated the efforts of the al-Qaeda-linked terror group to abduct doctors in Mandera. The medical officers have been using the El-Wak –Kotulo road. The militiamen are said to be interested in ambushing and hijacking their ambulance.
Also targeted for abduction are an assistant county commissioner in Lafey subcounty, NGO workers and county administrators.
The militants are also said to have been planning to kidnap seven white missionaries at a small town in Tana River along the Thika-Mwingi–Garissa highway.
Four non-local teachers in a public school near the small town and a white couple running a learning institution in Tana River are also of special interest to the al Shabaab.
The group has been frustrated in its bid to attack the Mandera airstrip in the past six days.
The terror group is said to be keen to bring down a passenger flight when a prominent person is on board. Their interest is to create a climate of fear and ruin Kenya's economy by scaring away investors and tourists.
