A contingent of security officers on Saturday morning managed to repulse an unknown number of suspected al Shabaab militants in Olla between Banisa and Rhamu in Mandera County.
The militants whose number was not immediately established stormed the police post at 12.40 am and started firing.
They then proceeded to at the to the nearest communication mast and sprayed it with bullets.
Speaking to the Star on phone, Mandera County Police Commander Jeremiah Ole Kosiom said that during the shootout that lasted for 20 minutes, no police officer or civilian from the Kenyan side was injured.
He said the militants' efforts to destroy the mast were immediately thwarted after multi-agency security personnel drawn from the Rural Deployment Unit, Rural Border Patrol Unit, Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit and GSU immediately engaged them.
“I want to confirm that there was an attempted attack by the militants that flopped. All our officers have been accounted for with casualties coming from them since there were traces of blood going towards their escape route in Somalia,” he said.
Kosiom, however, said that the militants sprayed a stationary civilian water bowser with bullets.
The police boss said security officers are currently combing the area in a bid to pursue the militants who are believed to have escaped towards the border.
“We are using the local chief and elders to pursue the militants. We are optimistic of finding them before they cross over to Somalia,” he said.
Kosiom urged locals to volunteer information that will assist in tackling the al Shabaab menace in the region noting that they have an important role to play.
“With the information in our hands, we will be able to prevent would-be attacks. That is why we continue to appeal to locals to be patriotic and work closely with the security apparatus,” he said.
The last week has seen the militants heighten their attacks with the latest being the Seretho attack in Garissa where four pupils and two militias were killed.
Two weeks ago, the government replaced Mohamed Birik with Musyoka Ndalana as the regional commissioner Northeastern in a bid to boost security in the area.
