By Manase Otsialo
Monday, August 22, 2016
KDF soldiers keeping vigil in the past. Police in Mandera on August 20, 2016 repulsed Al-Shabaab fighters who attempted to attack a security camp in Lafey Sub County. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Police in Mandera on Saturday night foiled an attempted attack by suspected Al-Shabaab militants on a security camp in Lafey Sub County.
Speaking on phone, Lafey OCPD Bosita Omukolongolo said the militants attempted to attack Rural Patrol Border Unit (RPBU) camp at Sheikh Barrow.
“There was an attempted attack at our RPBU camp at Sheikh Barrow at about 9pm last evening where the Al-Shabaab shot at the camp but the officers managed to repulse them,” said Mr Omukolongolo.
He said there were no one was injured in the encounter that lasted almost half an hour. However, reports indicated that some of the attackers were injured.
“They aimed at the camp and started shooting testing to know our alertness but our officers responded well and locals are talking of injured attackers something I can’t confirm but we did our work well,” said Mr Omukolongolo.
The police boss said the current wave of attacks in the Sub County is being aided by locals acting as sympathizers who collect information on security operations relaying it to Al-Shabaab.
“The Al-Shabaab operations are now hi tech since this is now an enemy from within as their intelligence is collected by locals,” he said.
He expressed fears that the attackers within the area seemed to be ahead of the security agents in terms of countering one another.
“It is difficult to visit a scene of incident almost immediately and find culprits there meaning they are being informed well of our operations by locals or by us,” he said.
He said there exists a local network working with the terrorists in carrying out attacks.
According to him, the situation in Lafey remains tense as Al-Shabaab movements are reported daily due to the area’s proximity to the war ravaged neighbouring Somalia.
“We have taken precautionary measures with this tense and tricky situation here as the officers spend most of the night keeping vigil,” said Mr Omukolongolo.
The terrorists, currently targeting security camps in the area, recently destroyed communication masts interfering with communication in Fino and Damasa areas.