A suspect arrested in a police operation in Milimani, Lamu, is from Somalia and was part of a group targeting vital installations in the area.
Ali Elius, 26, had been in Baure, Boni Forest, for training in readiness to attack a police station.
Elius told the police he is from Hamalas, Somalia, and al Shabaab bosses pay him Sh50,000 monthly to kill and maim.
Their training was to take place at Milimani and Baure and they would later have been divided into three groups and sent out to Ijara, Mililani and Kiangwe.
He named Jiblir Hassan, Hussein Hassan and Abdilahi Ibrahim as his accomplices who are missing after they were injured in a foiled attack in Milimani.
“He has gunshot wounds sustained during the failed attack on the police station,” a police officer said.
The suspect was arrested Sunday by GSU officers from Milimani following a tip-off from members of the public.
The suspect told police his accomplices were injured and are still holed up in the bush.
Police spokesman Bruno Shioso said they recovered rocket-propelled grenades.
He said the arrest and recovery of the arms was a breakthrough in the hunt for the gang.
“The suspect is reportedly part of a group of other militants believed to have staged a foiled attack on a police camp recently,” Shioso said.
“He had a visible suspected-gun-inflicted wound on the left leg above the ankle allegedly sustained in the previous foiled attack.”
He said the officers recovered one RPG launcher, an RPG heat warhead, a booster, and two booster housing.
The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border, which has been under attack by terrorists in the past.
Boni Forest is an operation zone as the national government has since 2015 conducted a multi-agency security exercise dubbed Linda Boni, aimed at flushing out al Shabaab militants.
Research by security agencies says 30 per cent of the country’s security problems are traced to the porous Somalia border often penetrated by terrorists.
On July 1, the KDF troops killed 11 al Shabaab militants during an operation between Sarira and Kolbio areas in Boni Forest, near the Lamu-Somalia border.
A rocket-propelled grenade launcher, several assault weapons, assorted ammunition and personal effects were recovered during the operation.
Officials said the slain militants were part of the Jeysh Ayman team led by Maalim Ayman who had planned to carry out attacks within the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor using Improvised Explosive Devices.
They were all newly graduated al Shabaab terrorists who were part of a logistics team that was moving IEDs toward Sarira.
KDF went to Somalia in October 2011.
Kenya's incursion into southern Somalia started after the kidnapping of two Spanish women, who were working for MSF at the Dadaab refugee camp.
The abductions were carried out by the militants who the troops planned to push away under Operation Linda Nchi.
Kenya began the construction of the 700-kilometre-long wall in 2015 to stop the militants from crossing into and out of Kenya.
The wall, which is known as the Kenya-Somalia border securitisation project is among others meant to secure the country from attacks by the Somalia-based al Shabaab terrorists.
The plan includes having designated immigration and custom entry points with a two-foot-tall concrete wall fitted with CCTV cameras.
It includes the creation of at least 22 border posts on the border with well-equipped personnel to respond to any form of aggression.
Trenches are also being constructed in the area.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
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