October 20, 2014 - Today's News In Gazetikenya

Completion Date December 2014

Soldiers kill five terrorists, seize 100kg explosives

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Kenyan soldiers killed five Al-Shabaab terrorists on Saturday night and seized a vehicle carrying 100 kilogrammes of TNT explosive. The operation has been described as a major success in the war against the group which has been blamed for several terrorist attacks, including the Westgate massacre in which 67 people were killed in September last year. During the Saturday night operation, six suicide vests were also found in the car the terrorists were using to cross the border at Dolo on the Ethiopian side near Moyale. 

The terrorists engaged the Kenya Defence Forces in an exchange of fire before they were killed. Reports indicated that the terrorists had earlier in the day attempted to sneak into Kenya through Mandera. The vehicle, a Toyota Prado bearing Kenyan registration numbers, was described by the military as a “vehicle-borne improvised explosive device,” which simply means the car was a bomb on wheels. “Security forces were working on reliable intelligence which enabled them to trace and track the car. Earlier, the terrorists had unsuccessfully attempted to gain entry into the country at Bulahawa in Mandera,” said the director of communications at Kenya Defence Forces headquarters in Nairobi. 

A security expert who spoke to the Nation on condition of anonymity said such explosives can cause “massive destruction depending on how they are used.” The official said a blast from the explosives can cause a building to tumble down. If the vehicle is driven into a basement, the effect could be worse. The bomb is similar to what Al- Qaeda terrorists used when they attacked the US embassy in Nairobi in which 213 people were killed and over 4,000 others were injured in August 1998. That time, the terrorists drove a truck laden with 800 kilos of explosives into the embassy. Al-Shabaab considers itself an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. 

Kenya forms part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) with troops deployed across the southern part of the country to support the legitimate government and to secure Kenya from Al-Shabaab incursions. KDF troops are deployed in Sector 2, a region that stretches from lower Gedo through Middle Juba to Lower Juba, which encompasses Kismayu. 

Other areas are covered by forces from Djibouti, Burundi, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia. In the latest offensive, code-named Operation Indian Ocean, Al-Shabaab has lost much ground and many of its fighters have been killed. On October 10, KDF jets bombed Al-Shabaab defence positions north of Bula Guduud, killing 60 fighters. Five “technical” vehicles belonging to the terrorists were destroyed and those who survived escaped towards Jilib. Earlier in the month, KDF troops captured Bula Guduud after killing 22 Al-Shabaab militants and captured the terrorists’ camp . Twelve Al-Shabaab fighters were also killed in subsequent KDF counter offences. Earlier in the month, police in Nairobi shot dead a suspected terrorist and injured another as they picked a consignment from a courier. Police believed the suspects had been planning an attack in the outskirts of the city. Sources said the hunt was on for four other suspects and a cache of weapons. Last Tuesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta paid tribute to the Kenyan soldiers who had been killed in the war against Al-shabab

Gazeti Kenya

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