Six bodies including two police officers recovered in Kenya-Somalia attack

By Cyrus Ombati

NAIROBI, KENYA: Six bodies have been recovered following Saturday attack by militiamen near the Kenya-Somalia border.

Among the bodies recovered includes two of Adminstration Police officers, a teacher, Red Cross official, and a 15 year old boy. The bodies of the two officers were discovered in a bush hours after the attackers beleived to be Al-Shabaab militia struck on Abdisugow and Damajale police posts on Saturday night.

They had been slaughtered and their bodies abandoned in the bush but their guns are yet to be traced.

Three other people including local chief and a worker with the Kenya Red Cross were shot and seriously wounded in the attack and are admitted in Kulan Health Centre, police said.

Inspector General David Kimaiyo said two of his deputies have left Nairobi for the crime scene to asses the situation and advice for the next step.

"We have confirmed the attackers are Al-Shabaab, two of my deputies Grace Kaindi and Samel Arachi have left Nairobi to asses the situation," Kimaiyo said.

North Eastern police boss Charlton Murithi said more security personnel had been sent to the area to help trace the missing officers and weapons.

“They were gunmen who attacked two police posts in the area and we have casualties. We are tracing other officers who are missing,” said Murithi.

Other officials said police were warned of the attack in advance following intelligence that indicated militiamen from Somalia planned to strike.

The attackers are said to have driven back in a file with valuables that they looted from the stations after they ran over them, witnesses said.

Informed officials said the militiamen were out on a revenge mission over the on-going Kenyan military operation inside Somalia.

The assault is the latest in a series that have been reported in the area in the past years since Kenyan troops crossed to Somalia to hunt Al-Shabaab militants who have been blamed on several insecurity incidents.

Several areas in North Eastern that borders Somalia have been the target of terrorists who kill innocent citizens, as well as security officers and other government officials, using either gunfire or grenades.

Police officers, military personnel and Kenya Revenue Authority officials have in the past been killed in targeted attacks in Garissa.

The incidents started in October 2011 when Kenya Defence Forces entered Somalia to fight the terrorist group Al-Shabaab on their own land.

But officials in April pointed at a possibility that other interests were orchestrating the attacks under the guise of Al Shabaab, which usually claim responsibility for such attacks.