The missing nurse suspected to have been kidnapped by al Shabaab militants during the Saturday attack in Yumbis, Fafi subcounty, Garissa, has finally been found.
Militants numbering about 20 stormed the rural Border Patrol Unit police post and proceeded to open fire indiscriminately.
They vandalized a Safaricom mast completely cutting off communication in the area.
The 11am attack caught the officers and the nurse who stays at the camp unawares. Police engaged the militants in open fire forcing the nurse to flee.
It was feared the militants kidnapped the health official after he could not be traced hours after the attack.
But speaking to the Star on phone, Northeastern regional commissioner Mohamed Birik said the nurse whose identity he refused to give resurfaced on Saturday afternoon.
“Let Kenyans treat the rumours with the contempt they deserve. Contrary to the lies being peddled out there that we still have missing persons, everybody who was in the camp has been accounted for and they are safe and secure,” Birik said.
Unconfirmed reports said the militants razed tents housing the officers and made way with firearms and ammunition.
But Birik said the officers responded swiftly and repulsed them.
“Some of those militants went with serious injuries that they sustained during the crossfire with our officers and we suspect that two of them might have succumbed to the injuries they sustained,” he said.
The last three weeks have seen the militants heighten their activities in the region as they target border towns before escaping back to Somalia.
Last week, the militants attacked police officers in Khorof Harar in Wajir East using an improvised explosive device killing seven of them on the spot.
But Birik said the residents have got no reason to worry since the security apparatus are on top things.
“As government, we are prepared to deal with al Shabaab insurgents. The more they provoke us the more we feel energized to go for them and smoke them from their hideouts,” he said.
