Gangsters shoot man in Ifo refugee camp

By Adow Jubat

A man was shot dead at Ifo refugee camp in Dadaab district in Garissa County a day after five revelers were killed and more than ten others injured as they marked new year celebrations.

The man who was a member of Lutheran World Federation (LWF) peace committee, which usually engages in peace activities in the camps, was pounced on by armed men and shot several times at close range.

Confirming the incident the North-Eastern PPO Leo Nyongesa said the man was approached by the armed bandits while he was resting in a hotel and they shot him on the head before escaping on foot.

The PPO said, the killers are believed to be sympathizers of the Somali Islamist terror group, Al-Shabaab.

Mr Nyongesa said a manhunt had been launched by government security personnel to hunt down criminals involved in incidents that have so far killed scores of people including three police officers in the last two months in the area.

Nyongesa said no one had been arrested and that the criminals may have escaped through the porous Kenya-Somalia border.

Meanwhile, a somber mood enveloped Garissa town as two of the five killed on New Year’s Day were laid to rest.

Speaking after the burial leaders and residents of Garissa County accused the provincial and district security apparatus of laxity in addressing the ever increasing incidents of insecurity in Garissa County.

Led by the Garissa County SUPKEM branch chairman Sheikh Abdullahi Salat, the residents wondered why government security personnel were unable to forestall the deadly attacks.

"When similar grenade attacks occurred in Nairobi, the security mechanism acted swiftly and even arrested the master minds.

They put proactive security measures in place and no more attacks have occurred in Nairobi. Why have attacks repeatedly occurred in Garissa and Ifo and nobody has been arrested up to now," the SUPKEM chairman asked.