Kenyan soldiers hurt as gunmen ambush convoy in Lamu

LAMU: Gunmen ambushed a police convoy in Lamu, injuring security officials and setting a police truck on fire. There was a fierce gun battle at the scene preceded by an explosion.

The attackers detonated an explosive device as the convoy of four trucks ferrying General Service Unit GSU officers approached Bargoni township in northern Lamu. According to reports, the attack occurred at around 1pm on Friday outside Baure township where militants operating from nearby forests ambushed a Kenya Defence Forces camp last June, killing two soldiers.

Three others soldiers also died in an explosion when an army truck ran over an IED in the same area.

Yesterday, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet told The Standard on Sunday that “police repulsed an ambush by Al Shabaab militants on their vehicles within Kiunga, Lamu, and the attackers fled with injuries.” He did not indicate whether the police suffered any fatalities.

The GSU officers were travelling to Kiunga through Bargoni and Bodhai when they struck the explosive and encountered gunfire.
The New Year attack came a day after the state announced the expansion of a military operation launched in Boni Forest in parts of Garissa and Lamu four months ago to combat Jaysh Ayman, a militant wing of Al Shabaab, blamed for last year’s raid on the Baure KDF and the mid June 2014 massacre of Christians in Mpeketoni, Hindi and Pandanguo townships of Lamu County.

 Late last year Jaysh Ayman reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.