Police: Blasts heard in Garissa Monday night were caused by faulty power lines

Police say sporadic blasts that were heard in Garissa Town Monday night were caused by faulty power lines, which prompted precautionary gunfire from security forces at a military camp.

Power cables lying low near the military camp touched each other causing explosion that made soldiers there think they were under attack.

“The soldiers shot in the air sporadically as a precautionary before they stopped causing panic in the area. The situation is now calm,” said an officer in the area.

Police say no injuries were reported in the incident that ended minutes later.

North Eastern regional coordinator Mohamed Saleh said there was no cause for alarm.

“They made precautionary shootings after they heard the explosions from the cables but stopped later on realising they were not in danger,” said Saleh.

The soldiers are cautious after their colleagues were last month attacked and killed in El-Adde, Somalia. Several soldiers were killed when Al-Shabaab militants ran over the camp on January 15.