Explosion in Dadaab, two shot in Garissa

By Cyrus Ombati

An explosion believed to be a grenade occurred near a training centre in Ifo Dadaab on Tuesday morning. No injuries were reported but police are investigating the incident.

Meanwhile on Monday night, two people were shot and seriously wounded in Garissa town in what police believe is a new tactic being employed by Al-Shabaab militants’ sympathisers in the area.

The two, barbers, were shot at close range by gunmen who escaped without stealing anything from them.

Witnesses and police said the gunmen walked to the barbershop at about 8pm and shot the two in the chest and head before escaping on foot.

The new Dadaab refugee camps set up by UNHCR in Kenya. Photo: UNHCR

Police on Tuesday said the victims were admitted at a local hospital, and were in stable condition.

North Eastern PPO Leo Nyongesa said no arrest had been made but they are investigating the motive and those behind the attack.

The attack happened hours after a police officer was killed and two others injured in an explosion executed by a gang of Al Shabaab sympathisers at the Hagadera refugee camp, in North Eastern Kenya.

The injured officers are still in hospital in Garissa. Their colleagues have complained injured officers are abandoned in hospitals in the area. They want their superiors to intervene.

"These officers need to be airlifted to Nairobi for treatment but they have been abandoned here. It affects our morale," said an officer on the ground.

The Hagadera refugee camp is among five that holds close to 450,000 refugees from Somalia and there are 220 officers manning it.

The incident is the latest to target security agencies in the area in a series that have happened since October.

At least ten officers have died in the attacks that are being orchestrated by sympathisers of the Al-Shabaab militants.

The Monday attacks happened four days after four people were injured in two separate grenade attacks in two restaurants in Garissa town on Thursday night.

There has been a string of attacks by sympathisers of the terror group since Kenya sent troops to Somalia in October to hunt down the Somali militants.

Most of the targeted attacks are on security agencies. In November, six people were killed in Mandera and Garissa towns in similar attacks.

Five other people were hit by grenades in Garissa town in two simultaneous attacks that have since been blamed on remnants of Al-Shabaab militants.

The attacks in Dadaab, coupled with the kidnappings in October, have forced a number of aid agencies to scale back their staff, hitting the provision of aid to those living in the world's biggest refugee camp, officials said on Tuesday.

The remnants operating in Kenya have been using Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) to launch attacks in protest against the Kenyan military action.

More anti-terror police officers have been dispatched to the major towns in North Eastern Kenya to help in investigating the sympathisers behind the series of attacks in the area.