3 thugs killed, policeman wounded in botched robbery in Kayole

Three suspected thugs were Sunday morning shot dead and three pistols recovered from them in a botched robbery in Kayole, Nairobi.

This increases to ten the number of suspects so far killed in Nairobi in the past three days in the war on armed robbery. Sunday, police said they recovered three guns including a Ceska that had been robbed from a DCI officer in Huruma last month in a robbery.

In the Kayole shootout, a police officer was shot and wounded in the hand, police said.
According to Nairobi Area police commander Japheth Koome, the suspects had apparently attacked and robbed pedestrians and motorists in Mowlem area, Dandora when police were alerted.

A hunt on the men who were using a stolen car was launched before they were spotted in Kayole.
Koome said an inspector who was leading the operation was shot in the arm and wounded. He is admitted in hospital in stable condition.

“The gang has been behind a series of robberies in the city. They had last month robbed an officer of his gun in a robbery in Huruma area. We recovered it,” said Koome. The bodies were moved to the mortuary after the 3 am incident.

On Thursday, seven suspects were killed in separate incidents in the city. Four were killed along Mombasa Road, one in Eastleigh and two in Kilimani area.
One of the guns recovered from the four suspected thugs belonged to a former bodyguard to Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko.

The bodyguard identified as Bakari Tsuma was shot dead in March this year by gunmen who grabbed the pistol and escaped.

Police said one of the pistols recovered from the four suspects killed this morning with 24 bullets belonged to Tsuma. The officers are trying to establish if the weapon was used in any other robbery.

Bakari had dropped Sonko in Gigiri area and left for his residence in Mwiki area where he met his death. Bakari was shot by three people who were armed with an AK47 rifles and pistols before they grabbed his pistol. The motive of the shooting is yet to be known.