Interior CS Fred Matiang'i has dismissed reports that there were Kenyan casualties in the al Shabaab Sunday terror attack in Lamu County.
Matiang'i also assured Kenyans that none of the terrorists who attacked the military base left alive.
Speaking at his office on Monday, the CS said Kenya has reduced its response time to any terror attack to under one hour.
He said even militants who attacked buses last Sunday were also cleared within an hour.
The CS said Kenya is building a massive surveillance system with technological finesse.
He, however, regretted that the US and other superpowers had declined to classify the al Shabaab militia as a terror group.
“Monica and I were in the US and we have tried to persuade our friends that these criminals must be classified as terrorists...that way, we would be able to decimate this group,” Matiang'i said.
Matiang'i statement contradicted that of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Sen. Jim Risch who hinted that a number of Kenyans were killed alongside three Americans in the attack.
“I am saddened to learn that American and Kenyan lives were lost during a heinous terrorist attack on a Kenya-US operating base early this morning,” Republican Senator from Idaho tweeted.
The terror attack on Sunday was repulsed by soldiers and at least five attackers were killed during a fierce fire exchange at Simba Airbase containing the Manda Airstrip. The.
Five Shabaab suspects were also captured, the Kenya Defence Forces said.
Soldiers also recovered one PK machine gun, four rocket-propelled grenades, four AK-47 rifles, one hand grenade and assorted ammunition.
Lamu county commissioner Irungu Macharia said the five are being interrogated by security agencies and are believed to be among the group that raided the base.
