Friday, November 21, 2014
WAJIR (Xinhua) -- One person has died while another was seriously injured in gun and grenade attacks in Wajir town in northern Kenya, government official confirmed on Friday.
Wajir County Commissioner David Rotich said lab technician Evas Mutunga, who was seriously injured in the stomach, died on his way to Nairobi where he was being airlifted for specialized treatment following attacks in the remote town on Wednesday night.
“He had serious gun shot wounds in his stomach and was bleeding so much which made it difficult for the doctors to save his life. He had sustained four gun shots on the chest and shoulder,” Rotich told Xinhua on Friday.
He said the second victim identified as Kangethe Ronald who was also injured in the incident was responding well to treatment.
During the Wednesday incident, unknown assailants who were said to be two in number opened fire indiscriminately at a local market in Wajir town and in the process injuring one person.
They then proceeded to the old mosque which is situated a few meters from the market where they again opened fire arbitrarily and injured another person.
Moments later they hurled a hand grenade at the Wajir Kenya Power fueling tank.
The grenade did not, however, hit their intended target as exploded a few meters from the machine. Rotich said that the government would not rest until it gets the criminals.
“It appears the assailants were targeting to blow up the fuel tank at the Kenya Power plant in order to plunge the town into darkness,” Rotich said.
“Fortunately the explosion did not cause much damage,” and no one was injured in this attack. No arrest has been made in connection with any of the incidents, he said.
The government administrator warned that they will not allow criminals to disrupt peace and tranquility which was returning to the remote town after attacks witnessed last year.
“They can run but they cannot hide,” said Rotich. This is the second time in less than three months that Kenya Power plant is being attacked.
Wajir town had enjoyed relative calm until the Wednesday night incident with no major incident reported.
Northern Kenya has bore the brunt of grenade and gun attacks in the last three years since Kenya sent its troops to Somalia to fight the Al-Shabaab militia group.