Kenyan police kill over 60 Al-Shabaab militants in Lamu

GOOBJOOG NEWS | NAIROBI: More than 60 Al-shabaab militants have been killed by police in Lamu according to Kenya’s Internal Security Minister Kithure Kindiki.

Kindiki who spoke to Kenya’s Senate Wednesday added that two Kenyans were also killed during the attack in which the militants targeted four buses carrying over 200 passengers before Kenyan security forces intervened.

He added that over 60 terrorists attacked a bus on Tuesday and were engaged by security personnel from the Nyangoro Forward Operating Base (FOB) who were conducting clearance patrols on the Lamu-Witu Garsen Highway.

The minister said the militants fled into the Boni Forest where they were pursued by a multi-agency team comprising of Kenya police and the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF).

According to reports, two people died from gunshot wounds, ten more people were injured in varying degrees, and an unspecified number of people went missing.

Kindiki also revealed that the Kenyan government has increased its efforts to combat terrorists, particularly in the North Eastern region, where specialised security units have been deployed.

Non-locals targeted

The Minister also revealed that Al-shabaab militants were targeting non-local teachers at the North-Eastern part of Kenya and recommended that the Country’s teachers’ commission shortens services of non-local teachers in North-Eastern counties because of insecurity.

“We recommend to TSC to shorten the service of non-local teachers in the northern region due to their mental health,” Kindiki said.

He however observed that the locals, at some level, contribute to issues of insecurity among the non-local teachers through incitement.

“We are facing a number of threats in the Northern region. We have intelligence that the terror groups have increased for reasons beyond us,” he said.

Adding, “There is a bit of incitement from the local communities against non-local teachers so some of the threats are coming from the local communities themselves and we must therefore look towards engaging the local communities to accept the reality that they don’t have enough teachers.”

Kindiki further recommended that the teachers be pooled in one area temporarily to protect them from Al-Shabaab attacks and also suggested a future plan to introduce community-led initiatives in the plan to fight Al-Shabaab just as Somalia did.