Shock as another 21 people killed in fresh Lamu and Tana River raids

Police collect bodies at Hindi Kibiboni village, near Hindi trading center in lamu on Sunday. (Photo: Maarufu Mohamed/Standard)

Lamu, Kenya: Residents of Lamu woke up to yet another horror scene after attackers raided two villages and massacred 21 people at will, spraying bullets on innocent people including inmates and a senior police officer at a police station.

Although Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the Saturday night simultaneous attacks on Gamba Police Station in Tana River County and Hindi in Lamu County, familiar questions remain unanswered, including why the attackers escaped so easily.

A furious Deputy President William Ruto, who toured the area to console the families and victims of the attack, ordered police to get the “criminals dead or alive”. Ruto, who walked in bushy paths to the homes of the victims in Mareranda village, witnessed the gory scene that was littered with bodies of the victims, most of whose hands had been tied behind them before being killed.

He ordered Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and his deputy together with all the security organs both in Nairobi and Lamu to deal with the matter seriously and bring the culprits to book “dead or alive”. He directed the Deputy Inspector General of Police Samuel Arachi to personally lead the operation.

Although the number of the dead from Saturday’s carnage were lower - at 21 - than the mid-June massacre in Mpeketoni and its environs, the latest attack involved a jail break and successful spiriting away of two key suspects in last months killings.

Police have not explained why these suspects were being held at an insecure police station that has been attacked before, and from where six murder suspects accused of killing nine policemen at Kilelengwani in Tana River two years ago fled, and have not been arrested since.

Meanwhile, junior police officers who spoke to The Standard have questioned the wisdom of changes made in Lamu County’s security committee following the mid-June killings in Mpeketoni, and the early June transfer of General Service Units from Lamu and Tana River.

They also want a senior police officer questioned over the police station attack. As we went to Press, four police officers were missing from the police station raid.

A significant departure from the June violence is that although the attackers at Gamba police station and in Hindi shouted Muslim slogans, they also shot and killed Muslims in the police cells. The pattern of the killings defied tribal and religious logic for the attackers at Gamba slew anyone they came across in a long reign of three bloody hours.

Relatives and friends of those killed blamed the attacks on a gang of 16 men they claim local police freed last week following a citizen’s arrest in Mpeketoni.

The Standard learnt that Joseph Okinde, Omar Dhawa, Faiz Bwanawasi, Priton Kokoni, a Mr Kimani and a Mr Ismael were among those killed at the police station. Ismael was the first one to be killed inside the police cell. Though Muslim, he appeared to panic while reciting the Shahada or Muslim declaration of faith, La illah ila Allah, as demanded by the band of attackers.

Security forces appear to have been caught off-guard after 40 armed gunmen attacked the police station, killing nine people, including a police officer and eight prisoners.

Senior Sergeant Boniface Ngari, a police officer, was cut down and his G3 rifle stolen, when the attackers opened fire while he was taking the last inmates’ roll call for the day.

His colleague Michael Narka was shot on the leg and is recuperating at Ngao Hospital in Malindi.

Sunday, Ruto visited the police station and held a meeting with security officials in Hindi, but postponed his planned meeting at Mpeketoni for security reasons.

Lamu Governor Issa Timamy, who returned to the county following his release from prison over the June killings, joined Ruto in Hindi and condemned the new massacres.

Joseph Matero, one of the prisoners at Gamba police cells, said the attackers asked inmates to recite the Shahada, (La ilaha illa Allah) an Islamic creed that states “there is no other God than Allah” and that those who were unable to do so were taken out.

Those who recited the Shahada reluctantly or in panic were also killed, he said.

“They came inside the cells, killed one of our colleagues after he failed to narrate the Shahada. They took others outside before we heard several gunshots,” according to Matero, who said the assailants arrived minutes after 11pm when the police were making a lock-up call.

Matero said the attackers communicated in Somali, Swahili and occasionally in English took over the facility for close to three hours, took their pictures and warned they would be back.

He escaped murder by refusing to come out of the poorly lit cell. Sunday, Tana Delta police boss Robinson Thuku confirmed the deaths and said the attackers fled with a G3 rifle from the slain officer and two prisoners from the police cells.

After the killings, the attackers set ablaze a truck that was parked outside fled in a private car. But some local residents say that the attackers used a truck hijacked on the main highway to flee towards Mpeketoni.

“The attackers were heavily armed and it was at night so some of us ran for our safety. They were very many and we could not handle them,” said one of the police offices at the station. The OCPD said that four police officers ran away during the attack, and by the time we were going to Press, their whereabouts were yet to be known.

The police boss also confirmed that two inmates were missing, but declined to give their details and the crimes they were being held for. But an independent source at the station indicated that some of the prisoners at the facility were linked to the Mpeketoni attack.

“We have not arrested anybody. But these people were pure Somalis and we are investigating to determine their motives and it is premature to link any group to the attack,” said Mr Thuku.

He however said he could not rule out any theory, given that the investigations were at the preliminary stages, but added that the attack at the police station was coordinated with the similar one in Hindi.

Mr Thuku said he could not confirm whether they were members of the Al Shaabab, which claimed responsibility in a recent attack in Mpeketoni, 30 kilometres from Gamba.

Area residents complained that security agencies did not respond swiftly, despite the fact there are several elite forces in the area.

Gamba police station is just 15 kilometres from the Nyangoro General Service Unit (GSU) camp.