Five victims of Mandera bus attack in hospital

At least five victims of Tuesday's bus attack in Mandera have been admitted at the county referral hospital with varying degrees of gunshot injuries.

One of the five patients is reported to be in a critical condition and arrangements have been made to transfer him to Nairobi.

“We have five patients in our county referral hospital. Four are in a stable condition and we shall manage them here but one has to be transferred to Nairobi,” said Mr Mohamed Adan, county minister for health.

He said the Governor Ali Roba administration has made arrangements to have the patient with a bullet lodged in the head flown by Amref to Kenyatta National Hospital.

“The four suffered different degrees of injuries and they will undergo surgery here but the one with a bullet in the head needs specialised treatment,” he said.

The five are among eight people who were injured when suspected Al-Shabaab militants sprayed a bus christened Makkah with bullets between Kotulo and Elwak in Mandera South.

Victims received first-aid at Kotulo dispensary and then Elwak Sub-County Hospital before being taken to Mandera County Referral Hospital.

A police report indicates that the bus, (Reg no  KCG 892A), was sprayed with bullets at Dabacity bridge by suspected militants. The bus stalled in the middle of the road.

General Service Unit officers (GSU) from Duse Camp and the military from Elwak station responded to the attack but did not apprehend anybody.

Police have termed the incident as an ambush that targeted non-Somali travellers but none was on board.

“After missing their target, the attackers turned their anger on the bus driver and assaulted him, threatening to kill him,” says the police report.

Intelligence reports shared among security officers in Mandera on Tuesday showed the terror group has planted its spies (Amniyaat) at bus stages in Mandera town.

Non-locals targeted

“The spies are telling the attackers who the bus passengers are and where they are travelling to," says the report.

The report cites last week's incident in which three non-locals were abducted on their way to Lafey by the Somalia-based militants as the work of the Amniyaat.

“Now we are told there are Al-Shabaab spies at the bus stages; their job is to give information on all the buses going to Nairobi. There are those buses that go through the Banisa, Takaba and Moyale route and there are other buses passing through Elwak, Kotulo to Wajir,” says the report.

From the bus stages, the spies report on non-locals travelling on the buses and which road they are using. They then reveal the registration numbers of the buses and whether or not the buses have police escorts. This is according to the report.

The report also warned security agencies in Mandera to be extra vigilant to avoid roadside explosives.

Mandera County Commissioner Onesmus Kyatha confirmed the presence of Al-Shabaab informers in the county.

“We are carrying out investigations to establish people sharing information with Al-Shabaab,” he said.

Mr Kyatha said the security arrangement in Mandera is such that police escorts are for buses mostly carrying non-locals.

"For the past nine months, we have not had a bus attacked and we are doing everything to establish who is behind Tuesday's incident.