Suspected Shabaab waylay Mandera bound bus, no casualty reported
The bus that was sprayed with bullets in Wajir County early this week, injuring three people. A Mandera bound bus was also waylaid on Thiursday. No one was injured in the incident.
After driving six kilometres from Tarbaj town towards Mandera, Mr Abdulrahim Hassan, a bus driver, heard the sound of gunfire and saw armed men emerging from the bush.
Knowing the security situation in the area, Mr Hassan decided to stop his 60-passenger bus, only to realise that the armed men were members of the Al-Shabaab terror group on a mission.
"After the shot, I stopped and more armed men came out of the bushes. They ordered everyone to get out. I had 55 passengers on board," Mr Hassan told Nation.Africa by phone.
He said the militants, speaking the local Somali language, questioned his passengers, demanding to know who they were and what they did for a living.
"It took about 15 minutes and they did not seem to get what they wanted. They apologised for stopping us and we were allowed to continue our journey to Mandera," he said.
The bus driver called Tarbaj police station and reported at around 4am.
Mr Hassan said he left Wajir town at 3am and all was well until he reached Bore, about six kilometres from Tarbaj town.
A report from Tarbaj Police Station said all passengers were ordered off the bus, searched, but nothing was taken from any of them, and they were released to continue their journey.
No one was injured, according to the security report.
Mr Hassan said it was the first time he had encountered the militants on the Nairobi-Mandera route.
On Tuesday, three people were injured in the same area when a bus they were travelling in was sprayed with bullets after the driver ignored orders to stop.
On the same day, a communication mast in Boji Garse in neighbouring Kotulo sub-county of Mandera was destroyed by suspected al-Shabaab militants.
Last week, North Eastern regional commissioner John Otieno revealed that the militants from Somalia are currently in four sub-counties of Wajir County.
Security officials in the region have attributed the increased presence of members of the group to the ongoing crackdown against them in Somalia.
Cases of bus attacks were first reported in 2014, and the following year the government banned non-locals from using buses plying the Wajir-Kotulo-Elwak-Lafey-Mandera route.
To reach Mandera by road, one must travel to Moyale before entering the county from Takaba on the Kenya-Ethiopia border.
