At least three men suspected to be members of the Al-Shabaab terror group were Saturday morning killed in a police operation in Boni Forest, Lamu County.
Police involved in the operation said the men were found with large quantities of food, a motorcycle and two rifles loaded with ammunition.
Police believe the men are part of a larger sleeper cell operating within the forest and often staging attacks against security agents and non-locals.
Agents involved in the operation said they had been pursuing the group within the forest for days following intelligence reports they had been sighted there.
“They use the motorcycle to escape once their mission is successful or when surrounded. Operation is ongoing to get more,” said an official aware of the operation.
Those killed are said to be non-locals and came from neighbouring Somalia.
The security operation involved multi-agency teams and has been heightened since President Uhuru Kenyatta opened the Lamu port on May 20.
On May 18, the terrorists killed at least seven security officials after their lorry ran over an Improvised Explosive Device in Baure area, Lamu County.
The bomb was planted by Al-Shabaab militants operating in Boni Forest.
The troops were on a morning patrol party when they came into contact with a terrorist RC-IED.
One of the officers who escaped from the scene of the attack came back on Thursday, June 3, 17 days since he went missing.
The Constable of police Norman Mwongera had gunshot wounds when he resurfaced at a local police camp.
He was later flown to Nairobi for medical attention and is in stable condition.
Senior government officials led by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i visited him at the hospital on Friday.
The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border which has been under attack by terrorists in recent months.
Boni Forest is an operation zone as the national government is since 2015 conducting a multi-agency security exercise dubbed Linda Boni, which is aimed at chasing out Al-Shabaab militants hiding there.
In April, two people were killed when a lorry they were travelling in ran over a similar IED.
The two were part of a team constructing the border wall that is aimed at stopping the militants from crossing into and out of Kenya.
