Dozens of security teams have been deployed to Mandera to join the hunt on a gang that staged an attack Chinese workers’ residence in Elwak.
This follows reports the gang was holding in a place in Somalia
territory near the border with possible plans to relaunch an attack on security
teams and other installations.
The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border where the
terrorists usually cross for attacks targeting critical infrastructure and
security teams.
Police said the motive of the December 16 attack was to
kill the foreign workers and other Kenyans there and stop construction of roads
ongoing in the region.
The gang has staged such past attacks in the area and left many
non locals dead and others with serious injuries.
“We have teams on the ground pursuing them for safety of
all,” said an official aware of the operations.
On Tuesday, the security team managed to secure all the 10
Chinese present as vehicles and property were damaged in the attack.
Police headquarters and local leadership praised the police action in saving the lives of the contractors on Tuesday morning after a gang of 50 armed men stormed the camp with an intention to kill those present.
The attackers, however, escaped after a long battle with security teams that were present and those who responded there.
The foreigners are involved in construction of roads in the area. They are being protected by armed police at their camps.
The gang had forcefully gained entry into the Chinese contractor’s residence located about a kilometre off Elwak Police Station.
The incident, which happened at about 1:00 am, led to a heavy exchange of gunfire between the militia and police officers who were on guard at the residence.
The militia, who were armed with both crude and sophisticated weapons, demolished the main gate and damaged the perimeter barrier, police said.
Police said the militia had been transported to the area using four Toyota Probox vehicles, which gained entry into Elwak town from Buraache area along the border cutline routes.
The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border. They positioned themselves on the opposite side of the road facing the main gate of the Chinese residence before opening fire.
The police officers on guard gallantly held their ground and successfully repulsed the attack, police said.
Police officers from the Border Patrol Unit (BPU) at Elwak reinforced the team on the ground in combined efforts that secured all 10 occupants of the house, police said.
Police said the militia damaged a police vehicle as well as five Toyota Hilux double-cabs, a grader machine and a water bowser that belonged to the Chinese company who are engaged in a project in the area.
The incident comes as security agencies continue to enhance operations along the Kenya-Somalia border to avert continued attempts by the al-Shabaab militia to infiltrate the country.
Somalia has not had an effective central government since the 1991 overthrow of President Siad Barre's military regime, which ushered in more than two decades of anarchy and conflict in a country deeply divided along clan lines.
Kenya launched Operation Linda Nchi on October 14, 2011, after gunmen seized tourists at the Coast, which the Government saw as a threat to the country's sovereignty, as it targeted the nation's economic lifeline-Tourism.
The latest IGAD analysis of the threat of terrorism in the Horn of Africa region, Kenya faced heightened vulnerability to cross-border spillovers from neighbouring conflict zones between July and September, a challenge now extending to the last quarter of the year.
