Ekip
10 April 2016•Update: 28 April 2016
By Magdalene Mukami
NAIROBI, Kenya
Security forces in Kenya on Sunday said they had averted a major terror attack in the north east after driving back more than 100 al-Shabaab terrorists who attacked a police station in Wajir town.
“They [al-Shabaab] were met with stiff resistance,” Kenyan Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett told a news conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Boinett said police managed to hold their ground but eventually, “they were outflanked and the terrorists managed to sneak into the camp”.
It was at this point that three police were shot and slightly injured, Boinett said, claiming that the militants suffered heavy casualties.
He added that they stole a police Land Cruiser to ferry casualties back to Somalia.
As they fled the militants set ablaze shops in Diff market, Wajir town, one of which belonged to a government official.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency by phone, Abdi Majid, a resident of Wajir town, said that he heard the sound of heavy fighting.
“There was heavy gunfire coming from the police station. It was continuous; it was like the gunfire would never end, but now things are silent and there are a few people still working at the shopping center,” he said.
In past attacks, al-Shabaab usually first opened fire on police stations before attacking villages in Kenya.
In 2014 they attacked a police station in Mpeketoni, burning it to the ground before killing more than 60 people from the predominantly Christian town.
