Police shot dead suspect linked to Bamburi attacks

Armed police officers patrol the streets of Kisauni at Soko Mjinga after the area OCPD Julius Kiragu confirmed that one of the terror gang suspects was shot dead by police on Wednesday night at Mtopanga in Kisauni as he attempted to attack a police officer with a panga, August 08, 2019. [Gideon Maundu/Standard]

Police on Wednesday night shot a man they claim was a member of the gang that terrorised residents of Kisauni and Nyali on Monday night.

Kisauni police boss Julius Kiragu said the 22-year-old, only known by his street name of Boy-Ke, was in the company of five youths who allegedly menaced Mtopanga residents.

“We received a distress call from locals on Wednesday at about 8.45pm that a gang of five youths was terrorising them. Our officers responded swiftly but when the youths were ordered to surrender, they charged at the officers with machetes,” said Mr Kiragu.

The police boss said the officers fired at the suspects and killed Boy-Ke, while the rest of the gang’s members escaped with bullet wounds. He said a search was underway to track down and arrest the injured suspects.

Residents of Mtopanga said Boy-Ke was a “known criminal” who had terrorised them for a long time. He had allegedly been arrested three times and dodged police bullets several times.

The locals, however, gave a different version of events leading to his shooting.

“He was a hardcore criminal and on Wednesday he was seen with his friend. When the police arrived, they told his friend to go before they shot him eight times,” said Habib Amir.

Criminal activity

Ahmed Hassan, another resident, said Boy-Ke often engaged in criminal activities locally but added that he did not have any weapon when he was shot.

Mombasa police boss Johnston Ipara yesterday told a local radio station they had arrested two suspected financiers of the Monday night attacks.

Mr Ipara said 10 more suspects had been detained and that they were helping police with investigations to unravel the motive of the attacks.

Tension was high in Kisumu Ndogo in Kisauni yesterday morning after a group of 20 armed men was spotted.

More police officers were deployed as residents expressed fears that the armed men were on a revenge mission.

The Standard has learnt that a team of officers given the name SPIF, have been ordered to track down the key suspects behind the machete-wielding gang.

A source told The Standard in confidence that the Monday incident triggered the unveiling of the special team following talks by security bosses.

The security chiefs were holed up in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning over the matter, with fears the attacks could get out of hand if they were not nipped in the bud.

The National Intelligence Service said it had finished processing photos of the suspects captured in the Monday night incident and provided the https://cdn.standardmedia.co.ke/images to the security team.