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Hour-long shoot-out between Kenya police and Alshabaab militants in Mandera County

By Nyaboga Kiage October 12th, 2022 2 min read

Suspected Al Shabaab militants on the morning of Wednesday, October 12, 2022, engaged Kenyan police officers in a shoot-out that lasted for an hour in Lafey, Mandera County.

Police say that the militants carried out an attack and damaged two Safaricom masts.

A police vehicle, an Isuzu FRR was hit by six bullets, while another vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser had bullet holes in the driver’s window.

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The militants were armed with Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) and AK47 firearms.

“On Wednesday 12, October 2022 at around 0230hrs two RPGs were fired at ALUNGU Safaricom Mass by persons suspected to be Al Shabaab terrorists followed by massive gun sounds from AK 47 rifles and PKM GPMGs prompting Officers at the Camp (both General duty and QRU) to move with speed and respond to contain the situation,” a police report seen by this reporter read in part.

Police officers were forced to use RPGs, General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs) and AK47 rifles to engage the militants until they opted to withdraw.

The report revealed that no police officer was injured during the battle with the Al Shabaab militants.

On October 6, 2022, suspected Al Shabaab militants stormed an area where a borehole was being drilled and reportedly killed 12 people including five Kenyans.

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According to Police in Wajir, the militants stormed an area in Gerille, Southern Somalia, killed the people and also burnt down equipment belonging to Suraw borehole drilling services limited.

“The suspected militants burnt two vehicles, the borehole machines. Five (5) Kenyans working for the drilling company including Four (4) non-Locals were killed.

They also killed five soldiers of the Somalia National Army,” the report read in part.

According to the police, two clans were fighting over the ownership of the borehole which they all claimed was being dug on their territory. The site is about 3KM from the Kenyan border.

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The incident took hours after an Intelligence report suggested a large number of Al Shabaab militants had been spotted at the Kenyan border.

“Suspected Al Shabaab were on September 28, 2022, sighted crossing from Somalia to Kenya and they then divided into three sectors. Be vigilant as they want to emulate a killing spree of security agents,” the intelligence report read in part.

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