Police had intelligence report on Liboi attack

Monday, May 27, 2013

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It is now emerging that the Damajaley AP camp attack that left at least five people dead could have been averted if security agents acted on intelligence reports indicating an imminent attack.

A peace forum to discuss cases of increased criminality in the area was told that police had last week received information that members of the rag tag militia were planning an ambush.

On Saturday evening, heavily armed Al Shabab militiamen, who have since claimed responsibility on their twitter account, crossed over into Kenya, and proceeded to launch simultaneous attack on two administration police camps in Damajaley village and a Rural Border Patrol Unit police camp a at the border district of Liboi.

Despite the camps despite being located less than 20 kilometers from the porous Somali border awash with the hard-line militiamen, only had a handful of security personnel are stationed there.

The camp which has nine administration police officers, only six officers were around, as two were away on escort duties while the senior sergeant in charge of the camp was away on leave.

On Saturday, the camps became a soft target for heavily armed militia who launched an attack in a covert operation that left five people among them two police officers dead.

The attackers believed to be members of the al-shabaab terror group managed to make their way back to Somalia after accomplishing their mission.

The two daring incidents prompted senior police officers led by deputy Inspector General’s of police Grace Kaindi and Samuel Arachi who promised a major crackdown on the militia group. But Garissa county governor is taking issue with the manner the security personnel are handling the situation.

Jama says it is high time the police department engages locals if they want to succeed in the war on terror. Garissa County has borne the brunt of retaliatory Al Shabab attacks since Kenyan troops crossed over into Somalia in late 2011 in pursuit of the Al Shabab militia who were blamed for a series of attacks and kidnappings in the country.

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