- The officer sustained gun shot on the right leg at the ankle.
- Police, however, says he is stable condition and currently receiving treatment at Hagadera IRC hospital.
Image: FILE
A police officer has been injured in a suspected al shabab attack that targeted the Alinjugur police post in Fafi, Garissa.
The officer who sustained a gunshot wound on his leg was part of a team of officers that had responded by firing back at the militants following the raid at their camp.
Police say the militants fired one rocket-propelled grenade towards the station followed by several gunshots in the Tuesday morning incident.
“The officers engaged and managed to repulse the militants and in the process, one police officer sustained a gunshot on the right leg at the ankle,” reads a report.
The officer, it adds, is however in a stable condition and currently receiving treatment at Hagadera IRC hospital.
Garissa is one of the areas prone to attacks by the militants that cross over to Kenya from Somalia to commit terror attacks.
Last month, four officers were killed after their vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) on Dadaab-Fafi road while on routine security patrol.
IEDs have become the most preferred weapons by the militants in the country due to their portability, easy assembling and devastating impact.
The increase in the terror attacks in the country, particularly in the Northeastern region, came after the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) made an incursion into Somalia in 2011.
When he appeared in the Senate two months ago, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki revealed that at least 500 lives have been lost due to terror attacks in the country since the bombing of the American Embassy in Nairobi by Al-Qaeda terrorists in 1998.
In the 1998 bombing which occurred on August 7, there were 213 fatalities (201 Kenyans and 12 Americans).
During the September 21, 2013 Westgate mall attack by the al Shabaab, 67 lives were lost.
Two years later on April 2, 2015, al Shabab carried out another attack at Garissa University and killed 148 people, mostly students.
Four years later on January 15, 2019, there was another terror attack in Nairobi at the Dusit D2 highrise complex which led to the death of 21 civilians and five attackers.
The CS was responding to questions asked by the Senate on how many individuals have died from terror attacks since the 1998 bomb last.
On the measures the government has put in place to boost counter-terrorism efforts and safeguard the lives and property of Kenya citizens, Kindiki revealed that specialized units have been put in place.
Some of the units include the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, National Counter Terrorism Center, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Financial Reporting Center, Coastguard, Trans National Organised Crime Unit and Asset Recovery Agency.
"The government has also held continuous training and deployment of specialised Formed-up Police Units (SOG, QRU, GSU) at the Kenyan borders," Kindiki said.
The CS also boasted of the multi-agency cooperation with national security organs (KDF and NIS) which have improved efficiency since the 1998 terror attack.