41 Kenyan Police Killed by Kenyan Rebels

[AbdiWahab252]

Military prepares to take on bandits after deadly attack
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Kenya Defence Forces aircrafts at Lodwar Airstrip in Turkana County with security personnel on November 14, 2012, headed for Baragoi for an operation following the killing of police and Kenya police Reservists over the weekend. Photo/JARED NYATAYA NATION MEDIA GROUP

By MAZERA NDURYA mndurya@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Friday, November 16 2012 at 00:30
IN SUMMARY

Lodwar Airstrip, in Turkana County, was busy with Kenya Airforce aircraft bringing personnel and equipment.
Locals milled around the airstrip’s perimeter fence to catch a glimpse of this rare display of military might.
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Hundreds of families living near the Suguta Valley have fled their homes as the military prepares to swoop the area for bandits

On Thursday, the Kenya Defence Forces set up a temporary base in Lodwar, Turkana County. The troops will track down cattle rustlers who slaughtered 41 police officers in Baragoi, Samburu County, on Saturday night.

Lodwar Airstrip, in Turkana County, was busy with Kenya Airforce aircraft bringing personnel and equipment.

It was also being used as the staging ground for aerial surveillance and to lift security personnel to Baragoi, the scene of Saturday’s ambush on the police and homeguards.

A contigent of KDF, APs and regular police has set up camp in Lodwar as they prepared for the joint operation in Suguta Valley on the eastern side of Lake Turkana.

Four more bodies of security officers were yesterday discovered in a bush in Baragoi as the search entered its fifth day.

The discovery brings to 41 the number of security officers who have so far been confirmed killed in the Baragoi massacre that has been described as the worst attack on police by bandits in Kenya’s history.

Aerial operation

Sources said a ground and aerial operation to track down the raiders will also include mopping up illegal guns covering the whole of Turkana and parts of Samburu counties.

The airstrip normally handles two scheduled flights and several charter planes for personal and other humanitarian organisations like the UN agencies that run a number of projects in the larger Turkana County.

On Wednesday afternoon, amid heavy security, military aircraft landed and took off. The sleepy and hot Lodwar was also stirred by the arrival and departure of a convoy of military and police trucks.

Locals milled around the airstrip’s perimeter fence to catch a glimpse of this rare display of military might.

On Tuesday, the National Security Council, chaired by President Kibaki resolved to deploy the military in Samburu after the police massacre.

Sources told the Nation that most of the soldiers are from Eldoret’s Moi Barracks. (READ: MPs oppose KDF deployment)

[Areesa]

This is sad. When will we learn violence is never the answer.

[AbdiWahab252]

This is sad. When will we learn violence is never the answer.

[waryaa]

First sign of disintegration comes when a government uses its national military to subdue citizens... How come they didn't defend themselves? 41 killed! that's like a whole army unit.

Is this Somali populated area?

[AbdiWahab252]

Waryaa,

Its an area in the Northwest populated by Nilotic Pokot, Turkana and Samburus. The fact the raiders over powered and beat the police speaks volumes. In a rare response, the KDF has been dispatched to quell the problems and will result in them meting out violence against innocent civilians as the raiders are probably outside Kenya by now. This should have been dealt with by the police or administration police not the military.

[waryaa]

awahab, i am in agreement with u - let's see how it unfolds...

[AmalJaber]

Waryaa,

Its an area in the Northwest populated by Nilotic Pokot, Turkana and Samburus. The fact the raiders over powered and beat the police speaks volumes. In a rare response, the KDF has been dispatched to quell the problems and will result in them meting out violence against innocent civilians as the raiders are probably outside Kenya by now. This should have been dealt with by the police or administration police not the military.

AW, why do you call them rebels? Or is it because yu want a rebel outfit to emerge in Kenya? Sad to say, but the Kenya police does not have the capacity to deal with these manenos. The RDU and The GSU (within the AP and the KP) try to deal with them, but trust me; these are not the mooryans that you guys are used to. That is why you saw KDF was never deployed to Tana River despite the high death toll. These raiders, in uganda, the police don't even attempt. The brits when they came to kenya, never ventured into closed districts. Pokots are the undisputed Kings of violence in Kenya; karamoja and sebei are kings in Uganda. But there are certain torture tactics that have brought results, albeit temporary.

Take a guy, tie his legs on a helicopter and fly it around in high speed it's funny but it works.

[DayaxJeclee]

jejeb dheh. Markoo aas fogeen Maandheera muqdisho lee looga telinooyaa.

[kambuli]

Somalis..(Not Somali Kenyans) need to move their wealth and their families from that place..It is time to come back to their country..They invested all their wealth in that place

[AbdiWahab252]

Amal,

Petty criminals can not lay waste to 41 officers. This is an organized armed force which has forced the KDF to be deployed. Ain't no Minguki !


Sareedo,


Rer Mandheera wa Shacab Somaliyeed


Kambuli,

Will they listen ? No, Kenya is on its slow decline. Their invasion of SOmalia has helped speed it up.

[AbdiWahab252]

2 Police killed in Garissa:

Two policemen shot dead in eastern Kenya trouble spot
Fri, Nov 16 2012
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Two policemen were shot dead on Friday at a market in the eastern Kenyan town of Garissa, a base for security forces fighting insurgents in neighboring Somalia.
The policemen, among a group of five officers, were on a routine inspection at the town's main market when they were attacked, said Garissa police chief George Losku.
"The attackers shot dead two of the officers while the other three engaged the attackers in a gunfight," he said.
It was not immediately clear if the attackers were connected to Somali Islamist militants and their sympathizers, blamed by the government in Nairobi for a surge in grenade and gun attacks in the past year following Kenya's deployment of troops into Somalia to battle al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels.
Garissa, a market centre for trade in camels, donkeys, goats and cattle located 200 km (120 miles) from the Somali border, is an operating centre for the military mission and a target for the insurgency - one of the Kenyan government's major headaches ahead of a March election.
Kenyan soldiers and Somali forces seized Kismayu, al Shabaab's last major urban stronghold in southern Somalia, six weeks ago, driving the militants out.
In July, attacks on two churches in Garissa killed 17. Since then there have been sporadic grenade attacks.
Separately, in the southern coastal city of Mombasa, a man threw a grenade at a local administrator's office, wounding three people, including the official, police said.
"These are al Shabaab operatives who ran away from Somalia after the invasion of our forces, especially in Kismayu," Robert Kitur, Coast region deputy police chief, said.
The attack took place in Kwale, 20 km (12 miles) south of Mombasa, an area known as a stronghold for the separatist Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), which is campaigning for the secession of Kenya's Indian Ocean coastal strip, a tourist and trade hub.
The government has intensified a crackdown on MRC members and supporters in recent months, though some senior members have recently been released on bail.
(Reporting by Abdisalan Ahmed in Garissa and Joseph Akwiri in Lamu; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Louise Ireland)

[waryaa]

The policemen, among a group of five officers, were on a routine inspection at the town's main market when they were attacked, said Garissa police chief George Losku.

Garissa is said to be a somali town but every single security officer named in the news has non-somali name. This one is another example of what we debated about a month or so back.

[AmalJaber]

The policemen, among a group of five officers, were on a routine inspection at the town's main market when they were attacked, said Garissa police chief George Losku.

Garissa is said to be a somali town but every single security officer named in the news has non-somali name. This one is another example of what we debated about a month or so back.

So wanted that police chief to be somali? You really do not understand. Among all the pastrolist communities, few if any would tolerate a security chief from another pastrolist clan. So, from what qabil should he come from? There are many security officers of somali origin but they are rarely deployed in their home areas. Neither are the Samburu, turkana, pokot, and so on. If you deploy a secutiy officer from one clan, and he has to deal with a case involving two people, one from his clan and another from another clan; do you think people will see justice?

[waryaa]

The policemen, among a group of five officers, were on a routine inspection at the town's main market when they were attacked, said Garissa police chief George Losku.

Garissa is said to be a somali town but every single security officer named in the news has non-somali name. This one is another example of what we debated about a month or so back.

So wanted that police chief to be somali? You really do not understand. Among all the pastrolist communities, few if any would tolerate a security chief from another pastrolist clan. So, from what qabil should he come from? There are many security officers of somali origin but they are rarely deployed in their home areas. Neither are the Samburu, turkana, pokot, and so on. If you deploy a secutiy officer from one clan, and he has to deal with a case involving two people, one from his clan and another from another clan; do you think people will see justice?

amal, It is not what I want per se, I thought the police work was supposed to be done by locals like in most countries . What about the judges? Are they appointed from Nairobi?

[AbdiWahab252]

6 dead in Eastleigh matatu explosion



At least six passengers died on the spot when an explosion ripped apart a mini-bus in Nairobi's Eastleigh estate on Sunday.

The mini-bus was on Eastleigh 2nd avenue and headed to Kariobangi.

Kenya Red Cross confirmed that at least 24 casualties have been transferred to the Kenyatta National Hospital.

Police and paramilitary personnel fired shots in the air to disperse rowdy groups who targeted civilians of Somali origin. The area is predominantly occupied by Somalis.

Initial reports indicated that an explosive device was hurled at the vehicle. Police are yet to confirm these reports.