Johannesburg – The Kenyan security forces are in pursuit of al-Shabaab militants following an attack on a convoy, which left two police officers dead and others injured or feared kidnapped, Kenya’s Daily Nation reports.
On Tuesday two Administration Police officers were killed, and three others injured, after a convoy of five bus passengers escorted by police vehicles was attacked by heavily armed and hooded gunmen. The buses were travelling along the Lamu-Malindi Road, situated near Kenya’s East African coast.
Coast police boss, Larry Kieng, said the officers who were escorting the passenger buses from Lamu to Mombasa died on the spot.
The police vehicles were behind the passenger buses when they were flagged down by armed men dressed in military jungle uniforms and who were initially mistakenly believed to be members of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
The gunmen bordered the buses and began distributing propaganda leaflets after examining the passengers.
The al-Shabaab militants then disembarked and opened fire on the police vehicles. There were reports that some General Service Unit personnel who had responded to the initial attack were also injured.
KDF helicopters were subsequently seen patrolling the area as security personnel pursued the attackers.
An anonymous source told the Nation that there are fears the attackers may have taken several police officers as hostages.
At the end of August two passengers of a lorry were executed by Al Shabaab. Their vehicle was sprayed by bullets at Gamba near Nyongoro in Witu, Lamu West. During the attack, the attackers also bombed and destroyed an electric pylon belonging to Kenya Power company within Gamba.
Earlier, on August 18, four people were beheaded by suspected militants at Maleli Village, also in Witu.