Al Shabaab attack at border angers members

A disclosure by Assistant Internal Security minister Orwa Ojode that Somalia’s Al Shabaab militia attacked Kenyans 15km inside Kenyan territory sparked anger and anxiety in Parliament.

On May 27 the militants attacked the homestead of Muhamed Aden, shot and wounded five people, including an eight-year-old child and Firdowsa Muhamed Godane, 17, a student who remains hospitalised with a bullet lodged in her body.

Family members accused the local provincial security of not doing enough to negotiate for the release of loved ones kidnapped by Al Shabaab in Somalia.

Nominated MP Muhamed Abdi Affey accused the Government of allowing Al Shabaab to "walk in, kill and leave" without fear of retaliation as MPs from marginalised areas accused the Government of abandoning border communities.

Mr Ojode refused to offer an official apology for the attack, saying some security concerns should be directed at the Defence ministry.

The assistant minister suggested that the insurgents were pursuing members or sympathisers of another Islamist militia, Hizb ul Islam, allied to Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) on Kenyan soil.

Al Shabaab is fighting to topple the TFG while Hizb ul Islam and the Kenya Government support the TFG.