KDF kills five Mpeketoni gunmen

Activists arrive at Mombasa Central Police Station after being arrested while demonstrating at the Treasury Square Gardens Thursday. They were protesting against the recent killings in Coast region. [PHOTO: maarufu mohamed/STANDARD]

Lamu, Kenya: Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) have said they killed five of the gunmen who raided Mpeketoni and left more than 60 people dead.

The soldiers said they shot dead the five in Bodei area in Garsen, Tana River near the Kenya-Somalia border on Wednesday night and recovered three AK 47 rifles.

“Police will brief you later but we caught up with five of the attackers and killed them while the rest, who were the majority, managed to escape,” said a senior military officer who asked not to be named.

The official said the KDF personnel were on normal patrols in the area when they clashed with the gunmen.

The incident is said to have happened at about 10pm. Military personnel operate in Lamu and Ras Kamboni in Somalia.

Police boss David Kimaiyo confirmed the incident, but said he did not have details on the same.

Earlier on, unknown assailants had on Wednesday night attacked a convoy of security officers at Mukowe in Lamu, 60km from the scene of the Mpeketoni attack but no injury was reported.

Gunmen pounced on Mpeketoni and Kibaoni areas of Lamu County and killed more than 60 people in a harrowing incident that lasted for hours on Sunday and Monday. They also torched several structures and displaced households.

Elsewhere, riot police in Mombasa lobbed teargas and detained several activists who were protesting the recent killings in Coast region. The protestors from different civil society groups were also demanding the withdrawal of Kenya’s military forces from Somalia.

They were roughed up and clobbered as they marched on the streets and tried to picket at Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa’s office at Uhuru Ni Kazi offices.

Among those arrested included the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Coast Branch Manager Mr Hassan Abdille, Vice Chairman of the Shungwaya Welfare Association Mr Mohamed Mbwana and three women rights advocates.        

The placard waving demonstrators had converged at the Treasury Square Gardens before attempting to march to the County Commissioner’s office when police in two lorries waylaid them and engaged them in a chase.

Some of the placards read ‘ Punda Amechoka’ (The donkey is tired), ‘Bring back our KDF to help secure our common border with Somali’ and ‘Stop the Senseless Killings’.

The protesters had donned white T-shirts and carried candles as a sign of peace.

Illegal arrests

However, Genesis for Human Rights Programme Director Caleb Ngwena protested against the arrests, terming them illegal. “We condemn in the strongest terms possible these arrests of civil society operatives out to champion fair justice. We are therefore moving to court immediately to compel police to release them,’’ Ngwena told The Standard outside the Mombasa Law Courts where he had gone to seek legal redress.

Earlier on, Muslim for Human Rights (Muhuri) Rapid Response Officer Francis Auma said they had informed police of their intentions to picket via a letter written to the OCS at the Central Police Station in Mombasa on June 12.

A copy of the letter seen by The Standard and signed by Muhuri Director Mr Khelef Khalifa read that 27 civil society groups were to hold demonstrations over the rising insecurity.

Auma said police waited till the eleventh hour before writing a regret note declining to give the procession a go-ahead. “You must be aware that that Uhuru Ni Kazi is a vital installation and a public office where the general public go for services. As such, your request has not been considered,’’ police notification signed on behalf of the the OCPD, Mombasa said.

The groups petitioned the Government  to among other things release probe reports on killings in Mombasa and updates on what action has been taken  to bring perpetrators to book.