KCPE vehicle, security base come under attack

By Boniface Ongeri and Abdisalan Ahmed

A vehicle ferrying Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination papers and a security base came under heavy gunfire in separate attacks by suspected Al Shabaab militants.

The vehicle was attacked in Damajale near the Liboi Kenya/Somalia border resulting in an exchange of fire between security officers escorting the examination papers and the militiamen.

North Eastern Provincial Director of Education, Aden Abdullahi Sheikh, said no one was injured.

Mr Abdullahi also said the examination papers were later taken to their destination. He further revealed that there was a crisis at the Dadaab refugee camps as teachers employed by the UN and who were expected to invigilate the KCPE examinations in the camps had fled.

The attack came before the North Eastern provincial security team held a meeting with religious leaders to discuss the security situation after a church was bombed killing two people and injuring four others.

Abdullahi attributed the disappearance of teachers at Dadaab to a recent incident where two Spanish doctors were kidnapped.

In the second attack, a group of about 30 suspected Al Shabaab militants ambushed a security base manned by the Rural Border Patrol Unit of the Administration Police near Elwak in Mandera on Monday night.

They were, however, repulsed by the security officers.

The armed militiamen reportedly sneaked into the country but were confronted by the alert soldiers who were later backed by the military to pursue the militants into the Somalia.

Remain vigilant

North Eastern Provincial Police boss Leo Nyongesa said there was a brief exchange of fire before the militants retreated.

He said none of the Kenyan soldiers was injured during the incident but could not confirm whether the militants had suffered any casualties.

"The whole incident was brief and happened at night. We cannot say if any was killed or injured during the shoot out," he said.

He assured residents that security officers would remain vigilant to forestall any incursion into the country by the Al Qaeda-linked terror group.

And at the Dadaab Refugee Camp, thousands of Somali refugees held a demonstration to condemn what they termed as barbarism of the Al Shabaab.

Carrying banners, waving twigs and chanting anti Al Shabaab slogans, the refugees from the three camps of Hagadera, Ifo and Dagahaley said they supported Kenya’s military offensive against the Al Shabaab.

Hagadera Refugee Camp chairman Kussow Abdi Nuni said the demonstration was organised by a refugee camp community consortium.

"We support the Kenya Government in their operation to wipe out Al Shabaab from Somalia. Kenya has hosted us for more than two decades and we want to go back and build our country now," Nuni said.

He added that recent grenade attacks in different parts of Kenya are a clear testimony that the militants can strike anywhere.