Al-Shabaab Attacks Police In Garissa

Suspected Islamist gunmen attacked Kenyan federal police in Garissa province, the same province where Al-Shabaab terrorists massacred students and faculty at a local Christian-oriented college last month. The attack was in the form of an ambush carried out after a police truck was destroyed by a land mine. In the ensuing gunfight, two officers were severely wounded (some reports have one of the officers as later dying due to injuries) and three others sustained minor injuries. Two of the attackers were reported killed in a statement by Garissa police commander Shadrack Maithya. Prior unofficial reports that there were several police officers killed in the road ambush were dismissed.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the ambush during a program on their radio station. The ambush was carried out on a three-truck convoy done to retrieve equipment and weapons from the destroyed police vehicle. Sheik Abdiasis Abu Musab claimed that Al-Shabaab terrorists were able to seize the weapons left around the destroyed truck. Al-Shabaab has carried out numerous terror attacks in Kenya in retaliation for Kenyan military actions against Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Most recent are two instances where al-Shabaab terrorists attacked the village of Yumbis, 70 kilometers north of Garissa, and raised their flag above the local mosque on May 21st, and the kidnapping of four individuals in the town of Lafey and their subsequent transport to Somalia.

Clearly, Al-Shabaab remains a significant threat in the region and one that Kenyan military and law enforcement should be aware of. President Uhuru Kenyatta has made the decision to continue with the offensive on the Al-Qaeda linked terrorist group in the face of their demands that Kenya withdraw troops from aiding the Somali government in wiping out jihadist organizations in Somalia.