Local partners in crime linked to Mandera attack

Was the Mandera terror attack planned or a spontaneous assault from the Somalia side?

This is the question many people in Mandera are grappling with as investigations into the barbaric attack get under way.

According to Mandera County Police Commander Noah Mwivanda, the attack was an "inside job" involving local collaborators.

Civil servants we spoke to in Mandera also appeared to doubt the credibility of the bus hijack theory, questioning aspects of the story-line.

"This was definitely an inside job. We are investigating the matter and will get to the bottom of the whole affair in a short while," Mr Mwivanda said.

The Standard learned that among the crucial leads police were pursuing were records of phone calls and mobile communication of the bus conductor, driver and owners.

One of the civil servants we spoke to could not comprehend the coincidence of the bus carrying half Muslims and half non-Muslims. He also suggested the attackers appeared confident that the bus had more of their targets.

"A lot more focus needs to be given to the booking office in the course of investigations. You cannot rule out collaboration of sorts in such matters and only investigations should clear that theory," the civil servants told The Standard team.

According to the civil servant, non-Muslims in Mandera are talking about it and it is only fair that police assure them through conclusive investigations.

POLICE CHECKS

But Abdi Nasir, the bus conductor, said they had nothing to do with the attack. He said they had been warned that there were police checks ahead but didn't say by whom.

He said they defied two sets of militants who flagged them down them before they gave in to the third group, which appeared to have a missile aimed at the bus.

Mr Nasir said the attackers separated the two groups – Muslims and non-Muslims – on the basis of their Somali looks. Those who looked like Somalis were put on one side and those who did not were put on the other.

Once the two groups were distinguished, the attackers asked if there were any Muslims in the non-Somali looking group.

Nasir told The Standard his mobile phone had been taken away by police.

But a conflicting account said the attackers carted away all the mobile phones.

In Umar Jillau, however, the attack is being viewed from a different perspective. For villagers who leave their little huts at dusk and head for the nearby bushes for safety, the tragedy has shone a spotlight on sporadic but sustained orgy of attacks "from the other side" – Somalia.

IMMENSE CAUTION

When we arrived in the village, the villagers approached us with immense caution. They even walked away and it took a lot of convincing for Abdi Abdullahi and two police reservists to agree to talk.

"We have braved all this in the last few months. We cannot sleep in peace. We have only five Kenya Police reservists and we hide with them because the number of attackers is always huge. We cannot continue to live like this," he said.

Security officers in Mandera said insecurity was confined to the area owing to its proximity to the Somalia border.

As a security measure, Mwivanda said bus owners should adopt newer routes that avoid the borderline.

Buses will also be escorted to the nearest big towns to avoid ambushes of the type experienced last weekend, an ambush that shocked the world.