The hunt for the killers of 10 security officers last Saturday has been extended to the Dadaab refugee camps.
The 10 General Service Unit officers from HarHar GSU Camp died when their vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device suspected to have been planted by the al Shabaab militants between Liboi and Damajale.
The officers were escorting one of their seniors headed to Liboi to be in charge while a colleague was on leave.
Police suspect that the attack was planned and executed by the militants hiding in the greater Dadaab refugee camp with the help of local sympathisers.
A senior police officer who chose not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter told the Star that a joint operation of the Kenya Defence Forces, the Kenya Police, the Rapid Response Police Unit and the Administration Police had been deployed in Liboi, Damajale and three refugee camps.
The operation is being coordinated by North Eastern regional commissioner Mohamed Birik.
A bus driver found the wreckage and drove back to Liboi – 30 kilometres away – to report the incident.
Birik confirmed that the operation was on but refused to divulge details.
“I don’t have much really to tell you at the moment apart from the fact that we are pursuing those who carried our this cowardly and heinous act. I assure Kenyans that we will smoke them out from their hideouts,” he said.
Dadaab MP Mohamed Dahiye appealed to the national government to make the Dadaab-Liboi road all-weather.
He said the militants take advantage of its bad condition to plant IEDs.
“We have told the government time and again to make this A3 security road all-weather. It's a busy road, used a lot by our security officers.”
Dahiye called for a change of strategy in fighting terror as vehicles have become easy targets for the militants.
Last June, four employees of ADESO, a non-governmental organisation, died when their vehicle ran over an IED in the border town of Kulan in Garissa. They were returning to their offices in Dobley, Somalia.
