Security team nabs 25 OLF militants

By ALI ABDI

Marsabit County

An operation to arrest Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) militants hiding in the country has paid dividend.

Hundreds of joint security forces drawn from the Army, GSU, regular and Administration Police conducted the operation in Moyale, Wajir North and North Horr for two weeks.

Ethiopian forces are conducting a simultaneous operation on its side of the border to ensure the rebels do not return there.

Ethiopian Government had protested that the rebels use hideouts in Kenya to stage attacks in southern Ethiopia.

OLF has waged an unsuccessful war against Addis Ababa for decades.

Eastern Provincial police officer Marcus Ochola said Kenyan security officers arrested at least 25 of the fighters, adding they were being held at different custodial facilities.

Mr Ochola said assorted firearms and communications gadgets were impounded.

"The operation has achieved its objective. We have gathered crucial information from the rebels. Communities living along the border will now live in peace. The operation will continue" said the officer.

Security sources involved in the operation said a team of intelligence officers attached to the anti-terrorism police had names of OLF leaders in Nairobi, following reports that they were connected and supporting Al-Shabaab that is fighting the Transitional Government of Somalia.

Residents of Moyale and North Horr have paid dearly for the presence of the rebels, as some of their kinsmen have been killed and kidnapped for failing to co-operate with the rag-tag militia group.

Many, including civil servants and teachers targeted by the rebels, had fled their homes or workstations.

"We shall not relent until all the OLF fighters and their accomplices in Kenya are wiped out. We cannot allow them to use Kenyan territory to fight a friendly country," he added.