Kenya: 4 al-Shabaab militants killed, attack foiled

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya

Kenyan police said Sunday that they had foiled a major terror attack in a town bordering Somalia, killing four al-Shabaab militants and recovering weapons and ammunition.

The militants were gunned down in the Falama area of Mandera, a town in northeastern Kenya, by security forces who were tipped off by residents about a planned attack on a police station.

“Our officers were able to prevent a major attack on one of the police stations which could have led to loss of life and weapons. We overpowered the militants, who had rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns,” North Eastern regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh told Anadolu Agency, adding that additional security forces had been deployed to the area.

Saleh said that the motive of the planned attack was to make away with ammunition, vehicles, and weapons from the police station.

Police were able to recover three AK-47 rifles and 90 rounds of ammunition from the militants.

Kenya has witnessed numerous attacks on its police stations along the porous Kenyan-Somali border. This July, al-Shabaab militants raided the Diff police station in northern Kenya, overpowering the officers on duty and making away with ammunition.

The Somalia-based Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militant group has carried out numerous attacks in Kenya calling for the East African nation to withdraw its troops from Somalia. Their bloodiest attack happened in April 2015, when they killed more than 140 students from Garissa University in northern Kenya.