Inside the nine-hour battle of Manda Bay

On Thursday, the US Department of Defence released its independent review into the January 5, 2020 attack on a US military base that left at least three people dead, more than five wounded and military equipment worth close to Sh10 billion destroyed. Brian Ngugi and Elvis Ondieki reconstruct the events of that day

The day that shook the United States military and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) started with teams of between 30 and 40 al-Shabaab attackers manoeuvring through the world-famous and beautiful Manda Bay in the Coastal archipelago of Lamu that has enchanted rich and famous travellers from around the world for decades.

The Lamu archipelago is renowned as a beautiful, scenic tourist destination with long white beaches lined with palm trees and hotels and cafés catering to foreign and domestic tourists.

But in the wee hours of January 5, 2020 at 5.20am, a force of highly-trained Shabaab fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other powerful weapons approached Camp Simba, a military base for Kenyan and American soldiers in Manda Bay, Lamu County, not for sightseeing. They were out to fight.

They went ahead to conduct a daring attack against US forces located at the military base, leaving three Americans dead and one Kenyan wounded. They destroyed seven aircraft — one belonging to Kenya — and other US military assets on an airfield. About Sh9.3 billion worth of damage to the special US and Kenyan aircraft was also incurred.

According to documents published on Thursday, the attack began with the al-Shabaab raiders shelling Camp Simba with indirect fire, while near-simultaneously concentrating a ground attack against personnel and aviation assets on another corner of the airfield.

During the opening minutes of their attack, the al-Shabaab fighters killed specialist Henry “Mitch” Mayfield Jr and wounded two American soldiers.

Soon after, the Shabaab fighters attacked and destroyed an American aircraft that was taxiing on the airfield prior to take-off.

The attackers fired at least 10 mortars, destroyed seven aircraft, and engaged US forces in an exchange of fire that lasted hours before they were finally driven off, as per the US military report.

Besides Mayfield, the others who died in the attack were American contractor pilots: Dustin Harrison, 47, and Bruce Triplett, 64. The two were US Department of Defence (DOD) contractors at Manda Bay.

The Shabaab fighters were unchallenged for nearly 20 minutes until a small team of US marines manoeuvred from the south of the camp to assess the situation.

Over the next several hours, a combined, ad hoc formation of US marines, US airmen and Kenyan armed forces conducted a counter-attack to repel the Shabaab fighters.

The report highlights the valour and bravery of the Kenyan and US soldiers despite highlighting many flaws that increased the vulnerability of the US base.

Fire superiority

Upon establishing fire superiority, the combined force deliberately cleared the airfield and multiple buildings over the course of the next nine hours, ultimately killing eight attackers and driving the remaining attackers from the airfield. There were no additional US casualties.

The Djibouti-based US Africom East Africa Response Force — who are US special forces based in Africa — arrived later that evening, deploying from Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, to further reinforce the Manda Bay defenders.

It has now emerged that Mayfield and another US service member were clearing the landing strip in the US base in the morning when they saw the heat signatures of fighters in a bush. But they mistook them for hyenas.

This was revealed by Lieutenant-General Steven Basham, the deputy commander of US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa, who participated in the latest probe on the attack.

The fighters launched rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) at the airfield, first hitting the two men’s vehicle and then the aircraft being flown by two other Americans, Harrison and Triplett, General Basham said.

“The first RPG penetrated the front windshield but did not explode,” he said. “The second RPG penetrated the driving side door and a moment later this device detonated, killing Mayfield instantly.”

The report says laxity and inadequate preparation meant the attackers were not repelled on time.

“The inadequate threat picture described above impacted the force protection posture at Manda Bay,” says the report. “The initial investigation determined that force protection measures were neither reasonable nor appropriate.”

In addition, the investigation found that “security forces organisation, preparation, training, and defensive plans were inadequate to counter the threat”.

The report paints a picture of poor command, inadequate security and a “climate of complacency” which shows this prevented US forces and their Kenyan counterparts from adequately repulsing the attackers.

“We were not as prepared at Manda Bay as we needed to be,” US Army General Stephen Townsend, commander of US Africa Command (Africom), told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday.

“Poor unity of command” plagued the base, there was “inadequate understanding of the true threat” in the region and to the facility, security at key base locations was lacking, and forces were “insufficiently prepared for their mission,” Townsend said.

Overall, a review of the initial investigation by Africa Command into the attack at Manda Bay by army general Paul Funk agreed that there was no criminal negligence or misconduct by US personnel who were stationed at the naval base.

“I concurred that the proximate cause of the death of three US citizens, injuries to three other US citizens, and the loss of US aircraft and property was the attack by a masked force of determined, disciplined and well-resourced al-Shabaab fighters,” said Funk, who is head of the army’s Training and Doctrine Command.

General Funk briefed reporters at the Pentagon about the results of the review.

The incident has led to new training requirements for all troops who deploy to Africa, where the US is working with countries like Kenya and Somalia to root out extremist groups and militias.

The New York Times quoted the Air Force saying that eight officers and enlisted personnel were disciplined for their actions or failure to act.

“But a spokeswoman for the service declined to describe the punishments or the fate of those personnel,” the paper said.

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