Pursue the Al-Shabbab

A suspected Al Shabaab attack left six people dead in Mandera in the wee hours of yesterday morning. The attack was, sadly, directed at a residential area.

Coming after a recent incident in which Al Shabaab militia’s raided Hamey Police Station, killed and paraded the bodies of two Kenyan policemen at their headquarters in Jilib, Somalia, this is an ugly reminder that the militias still have the audacity to thumb their noses at KDF and Amisom soldiers out to rid Somalia and its neighbours of the menace of Al Shabaab.

According to survivors and witnesses, the reaction of our security forces was commendable because they arrived at the scene in good time to repulse an attack that would have perhaps claimed more innocent lives.

But despite their quick response that denotes alertness, more is expected of the police who clearly need to step up their patrols to include residential areas closer to the border that present easy targets to the militants.

Understandably, the police are still grappling with the problem of staffing and the lack of hardware necessary to make their work easy, yet that only reinforces the need to carry out reforms speedily. The continued loss of lives to Al Shabaab should end.