Eight ‘missing’ soldiers report back to base

By PAUL GITAU

Lamu, Kenya: Eight soldiers who had gone missing since Sunday’s attack on a Kenya Defence Force truck in Lamu have returned to their base in Kiunga on Kenya’s border with Somalia, according to reports quoting local security officials.

The reports also say that a man believed to have participated in the raid has been captured.

Sunday’s attack at Milimani near Hindi in Lamu, in which two KDF soldiers were killed, was blamed on Al-Shabaab although the Somali militant group has not claimed responsibility.

Initially, local officials had claimed two soldiers were missing after the night attack in which KDF claimed to have killed an insurgent and burnt the attacker’s vehicle.

Lamu East OCPD Samuel Obara Wednesday confirmed that eight soldiers reported to the Kiunga base on Tuesday.

Oofficials denied the eight soldiers had been kidnapped but independent reports show their base lost contact with them after the attack, which occurred three kilometres outside Manda naval base.

Obara confirmed Tuesday’s arrest of a man suspected to have participated in the raid but declined to disclose the name and other details about him.

He said the middle-aged man was arrested inside the forest and “looked suspicious” when KDF soldiers stumbled on him trying to find his way out of the bushes.

He said the arrest was a big breakthrough and that police have been able to get vital information from him.

“We are following crucial leads and very soon all the terror suspects will be apprehended,” he added and alleged that the gang which attacked KDF was ferrying food to an Al Shabaab camp in Somalia.