An MP has asked the government to adopt foot patrols in a change of tack to combating al Shabaab.
Dadaab lawmaker Mohamed Dahiye on Tuesday said al Shabaab militants have devised explosives to attack vehicles and that it was time Kenyan soldiers adopted a new strategy in the fight against terrorism.
On Saturday, 11 GSU officers were killed after their vehicle ran over an Improvised Explosive Device between Liboi and Damajaley.
The officers were from HarHar camp and were on patrol using a land cruiser. They all died on the spot.
A joint operation involving the Kenya Defence Forces, the Kenya Police, the Rapid Response Police Unit and the Administration Police is being carried out in the larger Dadaab subcounty to hunt down the attackers.
They are believed to be members of the Somali based al Shabaab group. Authorities believe the attack was planned and executed from the Dadaab refugee camp.
Addressing reporters in Garissa town on Tuesday, Dahiye said the militants are known to renew their evil activities during the rainy season.
“Because they get plenty of water while trekking on foot, they can move freely and far. Our officers should adopt foot patrols,” Dahiye said.
“Vehicles have become extremely dangerous for our officers. They should change tack and do more foot patrols in localised areas.”
The MP said the closure of the Kenya-Somalia border could be contributing to terror attacks because there is "a massive movement of goods through the porous border."
He said militants and their sympathisers were generating revenue from goods shipped to Kenya by scaring away security officers along the border through staging attacks to allow entry of smuggled goods.
Dahiye said it was time the national government made the Dadaab-Liboi road an all-weather road to ease patrol by security agencies because "its current state makes movement difficult."
The MP was with Liboi MCA Hussein Ahmed. They said militants were taking advantage of bad roads to plant IEDs targeting security officers on patrol.
edited by peter obuya
