Kenya in pursuit of Al-Shabaab militants after death of 5 officers

NAIROBI, Kenya - Security teams in Kenya have been activated in the coastal area and around the dense Boni Forest to pursue Al-Shabaab attackers, who are said to have killed at least five police officers who were on duty within the dangerous zone.

The five officers from the Administration Police (AP) unit were ambushed by suspected Al-Shabaab militants early this week within Boni Forest. They are part of the multi-agency security teams serving under the KDF-led Operation Amani Boni..

According to the National Police Service, the affected officers were from the elite Special Operations Group, which works closely with the KDF. Five other officers were critically injured after the ambush, officials said.

The officers were ambushed when they were pursuing the militants believed to be operating in the expansive forest. They had been trailing the terrorists for two days following intelligence that they were hiding in the forest and planned a large-scale attack.

“An SOG team was deployed and embarked on a pursuit patrol to locate enemy forces in Boni Forest within the Janjana areas. After two days of patrolling, the team had contact with a large enemy force in the Lehelo area,” the SOG command said.

One corporal and four constables are among the officers killed in the ambush. The five injured officers have since been transferred to Nairobi for special treatment, with a reinforcement deployed to pursue the attackers, officials added.

The attack came just a day after five other quarry workers were killed in an attack while on the way to their workplace in Bur Abor Village in Mandera East, Mandera County. Those killed were mainly nonlocals, a recurring attribute enforced by the militants.

Detectives said preliminary investigations linked the attack to Al-Shabaab militants who had been spotted in the area earlier before the attack.

“All the victims were non-locals who were working at a quarry for a living. They have been excavating stones for construction in the area,” police said. Cases of Al-Shabaab attacks are surging in northeastern and coastal Kenya, but the security teams have managed to foil some attacks.

GAROWE ONLINE