Al Shabab ambushes Kenyan police after setting off blast
Local officials deny reports of 20 deaths, insisting only five officers were wounded
Kenyan police have fought a fierce battle with Al Shabab militants after an ambush near the border with Somalia, officials said yesterday.
The militants claimed in a statement that at least 20 police were killed, although Kenyan authorities insisted that only five officers were wounded, with Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery dismissing claims of fatalities as “propaganda”.
The Monday night attack came just days after extra Kenyan security forces were deployed in the area to strengthen security after a series of raids by gunmen from the Somali-led Al Qaida branch.
Security sources said the officers were attacked close to the village of Yumbis, about 80 kilometres northeast of Garissa and the scene of a clash between the Al Shabab and Kenyan security forces last week.
They were ambushed as they went to assist other police who had been targeted by an explosive device, believed to be a landmine or improvised roadside bomb.
“Mujahedeen fighters conducted a successful attack on the Christian troops of Kenya and the death toll is more than 20, five vehicles were also burnt down,” Al Shabab spokesman Abdul Aziz Abu Musab said in a statement posted on a pro-militant website.
‘Officers missing’
Kenya media and local officials initially said that between 10 and 20 police were killed, while a police spokesman said 13 officers were missing.
“There was an ambush on officers who were on patrol and as a result, 13 officers are missing,” police spokesman George Kinoti said.
“More police officers have been dispatched to look for those missing and the attackers.”
But Garissa County Commissioner James Kianda contradicted that account — insisting to reporters in Garissa that all officers had been accounted for.
The interior ministry said there were five wounded, with one officer airlifted to Nairobi and another in a critical condition.
Garissa County has remained volatile with numerous attacks since last month when four Al Shabab militants stormed Garissa University College, killing 142 students and six members of the security forces during a daylong siege.
It was the group’s deadliest attack in Kenya to date.