Ten more police reservists in Lamu surrender guns

LAMU, KENYA: Ten more Kenya Police Reservists (KPR) have surrendered their guns to police after fearing they will be attacked and robbed by militants terrorising residents of Lamu and Tana River Counties.

This brings to 18, the number of those who have returned the weapons saying they fear to be harmed or killed by the militants still operating there.

Eight had surrendered on Sunday.

The 18 who include a chief and his assistant said they have been receiving reports and threats of attacks targeting them because they are armed.

Police in Lamu and at the Kiunga station confirmed 18 guns with more than 2000 bullets had been surrendered and they were expecting 30 more.

The KPR surrendered the weapons on Sunday and Monday saying their safety was not guaranteed. There are more than 50 KPRs in the area.

The chief for Milimani Location Yusuf Nur told The Standard he led the other KPR officials in returning the guns to the Kiunga police station on Sunday evening for their safety.

“We don’t want to be harmed because we are armed. There are no enough police in this area to ensure our safety and we will pick them once there is security,” said Nur.

On Monday, Kenya Defence Forces jets bombed several locations within Boni forest to flush out the attackers. No word came out after the bombing amid reports the attackers are still in hiding and some of them had been injured in the past attacks.

The attackers on Monday torched houses in Ras Gitau, within Manda Island and no arrest has been made so far.