13 police officers missing after Garissa Al-Shabaab attack
Police spokesman George Kinoti says 13 police officers are missing and two others wounded after suspected Al shabaab attack in Yumbis, Garissa county.
Top security chiefs are currently holding a crisis meeting at Harambee house in Nairobi. According to police headquarters, the officers were headed to a place where another team of officers had been injured in an earlier attack when they were ambushed on Monday evening.
In the earlier attack, three police officers were injured after their vehicle ran over a land mine. It was then that another team dashed there to rescue them. On the way, they ran into an ambush by gunmen who were waiting and shot before their vehicles were set on fire.
Senior police officers were rushing to the scene Tuesday morning long after the attack had happened. They said the officers were missing and that their death had not been confirmed.
The same area was in the spotlight Thursday last week, after the militants raided mosques and lectured worshipers. A day later, Kenyan security forces said they thwarted a planned attack by the al-Shabaab gunmen on a village in Fafi constituency at the Kenya-Somalia border.
The al-Shabaab crossed into Kenya from Somalia, and went to “preach” for two hours in a Mosque in Ijara warning the Mosque leaders from exposing sympathizers. They were led by wanted Al shabaab leader Mohamed Kuno alias Gamadhere. The gunmen even hoisted flags there before the security forces arrived.
They mentioned several local leaders in the dress down warning them against stepping foot in the County before leaving. Gamadhere comes from Garissa County and a bounty is on his head for anyone who will help capture him. He has been linked to the Garisssa university attack on April 2 in which 148 people were killed by terrorists.
