Kenya’s military said on Thursday that it has intensified manhunt for a group of Al-Shabaab militants dispatched from Somalia to wage more attacks targeting civilian and security agents in the coast’s Lamu County.
Kenya Defence Force (KDF) spokesman David Obonyo said the group crossed over to the country through the vast Boni forest to stage more attacks in the counties of Lamu and Garrisa near the Kenya Somalia border.
Obonyo said they are trailing militant group that is heavily armed and split in at least three groups to carry out attacks in several parts of Lamu.
“Our troops are trailing the suspects as part of operation Linda Boni, intelligence reports indicate that militants have split in at least three groups to carryout attacks,” said Obonyo.
KDF, which is part of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), is leading the latest onslaught against the group blamed for a series of sporadic attacks in Coast and northeastern Kenya.
He said the group has no central operation center, making it difficult for security agents to flush them out from the forest.
Obonyo said more military personnel with armored personnel carrier (APC) have launched both aerial and ground operation targeting the militants.
On Monday, KDF killed five members and recovered AK 47 riffles with 321 bullets, three grenades and several explosive devices. They laid ambush in Bodhei area of the forest where the five were killed.
The group is believed to be behind Tuesday’s ambush where more than 10 police officers escaped death after their vehicle was sprayed with bullets after it missed running over an improvised explosive device (IED).
Last month, a group of more than 30 heavily armed Al-Shabaab militants descended on villages of Lamu West and beheaded four men.
The terror group has been carrying out sporadic attacks in several parts of the country following Kenya’s contribution of soldiers to AMISOM.
