At least three people were over the weekend killed in two separate gun attacks by suspected Al-Shabaab militants operating in Mandera County.
Two others were injured in the incidents.
Police said in the first attack, which happened Saturday, militants ambushed three people who were travelling in a salon vehicle from Fino to Mandera Town at Kamor Bahaw area firing several bullets at their car before fleeing.
This attack, according to police and locals, left a sick woman who was being taken to hospital dead while two others sustained injuries.
Police said 50-year-old Rukia Adan died on the spot, while his 35-year-old son Abdikadir Kuno who had accompanied her was shot in the thigh.
Hours later, the militants opened fire on another vehicle at the outskirts of Fino killing a man and his son on the spot.
Police said Moulid Billow and Ahmed Bata were killed after their vehicle was sprayed with bullets by suspected al-Shabaab militia.
North Eastern regional police boss Rono Bunei said security has been beefed up in the area as the police pursue the killers.
He appealed to the locals to cooperate with security agencies in addressing the menace.
“The locals can help us tame this menace. They know who is not a local and who is a criminal,” he said.
This is the latest such attack to happen in the past days after a lull.
The attacks had in June 2021 grounded operations in the county as most roads were rendered impassable.
Security agencies were not spared in the attacks.
This forced the Mandera County Government to stop the movement of their vehicles over increasing terror-related incidents in the area.
The area of the attack, which is the northern part of the county, has been a safe area since 2013 but has lately been a soft target for the militants.
Police have been mounting operations in the areas to deter their plans.
The terrorists have been targeting security installations in the area in a series of incidents destroying them.
This has affected among others the education sector forcing tens of teachers who are non-locals to flee.
The border region has borne the brunt of repeated attacks from the militants who are at times aided by locals.
The terrorists conduct attacks after breaching security zones, which left dozens of civilians and security officials dead or wounded.
They have been planting explosives on the routes used by the security agencies and attacking them.
Edited by D Tarus
