‘Al-Shabaab’ militants attack AP camp in Arabia, Mandera

Nairobi. Suspected Al-Shabaab militants have attacked an Administration Police camp in Mandera.

Over 20 gunmen are said to have raided the camp in Arabia at 1.25am on Thursday.

Some 10 officers were in the camp when the attack happened, according to Lafey Deputy County Commissioner Eric Oronyi.

No officer was injured in the attack that saw the militants set alight mattresses to scare away the officers.

However, a schoolboy sustained injuries after he was hit by a stray bullet.

Speaking to the Nation on phone, Mr Oronyi said the attackers made away with a police vehicle, three rifles and a voter registration kit belonging to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

Two of the weapons were assigned to National Police Reservists while one belonged to an AP officer.

The gunmen also vandalised a Safaricom mast in Khoror Farar at around 3am and mobile communication has been cut off in the area.

“Communication has been cut off and we cannot confirm the exact damage but things are not good,” Mr Oronyi said.

Reinforcement from Kenya Defence Forces in Mandera was dispatched to the area.

The attack came days after Inspector-General of police Joseph Boinnet together with his key lieutenants visited officers in camps in the area.

It also happened barely a week after Al-Shabaab killed nine Kenyan soldiers in camp in Kulbiyow, Lower Jubba, Somalia, some 18 kilometres from the Kenyan border.

The numbers of the soldiers killed in the attack is, however, disputed, with Al-Shabaab putting it at over 60.

On the dawn of January 15, 2016, Kenya also lost over 100 troops when Al-Shabaab overran a KDF camp in El-Adde, Somalia.

Kenyan soldiers are fighting the rag-tag militia under the UN-backed African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) that has lost hundreds of soldiers in camp attacks.

Amisom is a 22,000-strong force comprising soldiers from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.