Saturday October 14, 2017
IG Joseph Boinnet with other senior security personnel during a tour to inspect Operation Linda Boni meant to flush out al Shabaab militants from Boni forest in Lamu. /Alphonce Gari/ The Star - FILE
MOMBASA
(Xinhua) -- Kenya’s military said on Thursday that it has intensified
manhunt for a group of Al-Shabaab militants dispatched from Somalia to
wage more attacks targeting civilian and security agents in the coast’s
Lamu County.
Kenya Defence Force (KDF) spokesman David Obonyo
said the group crossed over to the country through the vast Boni forest
to stage more attacks in the counties of Lamu and Garrisa near the Kenya
Somalia border.
Obonyo said they are trailing militant group
that is heavily armed and split in at least three groups to carry out
attacks in several parts of Lamu.
“Our troops are trailing the
suspects as part of operation Linda Boni, intelligence reports indicate
that militants have split in at least three groups to carryout attacks,”
said Obonyo.
KDF, which is part of the African Union
peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), is leading the latest
onslaught against the group blamed for a series of sporadic attacks in
Coast and northeastern Kenya.
He said the group has no central operation center, making it difficult for security agents to flush them out from the forest.
Obonyo
said more military personnel with armored personnel carrier (APC) have
launched both aerial and ground operation targeting the militants.
On
Monday, KDF killed five members and recovered AK 47 riffles with 321
bullets, three grenades and several explosive devices. They laid ambush
in Bodhei area of the forest where the five were killed.
The
group is believed to be behind Tuesday’s ambush where more than 10
police officers escaped death after their vehicle was sprayed with
bullets after it missed running over an improvised explosive device
(IED).
Last month, a group of more than 30 heavily armed Al-Shabaab militants descended on villages of Lamu West and beheaded four men.
The
terror group has been carrying out sporadic attacks in several parts of
the country following Kenya’s contribution of soldiers to AMISOM.