Mandera Massacre: Joint security in search of bodies, killers

MANDERA, KENYA: Joint security personnel led by Kenya Defence Forces has been dispatched to retrieve bodies and pursue killers of 28 people in Saturday morning Mandera bus attack.

Mandera police county commissioner Noah Mwavinda said the 28 passengers including two security officers heading home for their annual leave were executed some meters from the main road where the bus was hijacked a moment earlier.

“I can confirm to you that there was unfortunate incident this morning where about 28 innocent travelers were brutally killed by al-Shabaab militia after the bus they were traveling in was hijacked and driven some meters off the main road,” he said.

He added “We are now in the preparation of sending security reinforcement, medical staffs and ambulance to retrieve and transport the bodies of the deceased to Mandera town. Military are already there to pursue the heartless killers.”

Mwavinda said the militia commandeered the bus, forced the passengers to alight before sorting them into two groups based on the faith they profess, before executing the targeted victims whom they identified as non-Muslim.

 “There were about 60 passengers in the bus owned by Mekka travelers. The militia ambushed it at around 8 kilometers shortly after it left Mandera town between Omar jillow and Arabia,” the county police boss added.

Mwavinda said, after sorting the passengers based on faith, they ordered all other commuters to go away as they returned the non-Muslim into the bus and attempted to escape with them using the bus, but the bus got stuck in the muddy and swampy weather road.

He added”They turned on the captive and executed all of them before escaping on foot towards the porous Somali/Kenya border”,

The Mandera County police chief said, four were women among those killed in the heinous attack.

He said joint security personnel led by the Kenya defense force aided by aerial support were in the scene of the attack to retrieve the bodies of the deceased and pursue the killers who were reported escaping toward the Somali border, which is less than 4 kilometers from the scene of the bloody raid.

Preparation were under way early Saturday morning at Mandera district referral hospital as the County government call on duty all nurses and other medical officers from their off to assist in handling the emergency arrival of bodies.