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One Al-Shabaab fighter killed, two injured in raid in northern Kenya

23 March 2012 20:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least one Al-Shabaab fighter was killed and two others injured after three suspected insurgents from Somalia raided a mosque in Mandera town, Kenya in raring daylight attack, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Local government officials and residents said a middle-aged man was seriously injured after three suspected Somali militiamen raided a mosque near the border with Somalia.

Mandera East District Commissioner Benson Leparamorijo said the heavily armed militia who are suspected to have sneaked from the Somalia border town of Bulla-Hawa invaded the mosque, but they were chased by the faithful who detected them before carrying any criminal activities.

"The assailants were given a chase by the residents who managed to kill one of them and apprehend the other and recovered a pistol. The third one managed to escape unscathed," Leparamorijo said.

The latest development comes as security forces at the border points are grappling with threats posed by the insurgents who have been laying landmines mainly targeting police and soldiers patrolling the Somalia border.

Mandera residents said the three who were heavily armed with AK47 assault rifles and pistols enter the Jamia mosque in centre of the border town during Friday prays in bid to detonate explosion before suspecting faithful who were coming into the mosque raised alarm over the suspicious looking characters.

The attack by the Somali insurgent whose criminal activities into the country prompted Kenya Defence Force (KDF) to carry out its first external incursion into the a neighboring country, came barely two days after a taxi man was shot down at Bulla-Central by their suspected members.

The killing of the tax man ensued a protest by the local resident that led to the death of three people, burning of several houses and looting of millions of properties.

The district administrator said a loader was injured after he was hit by a bullet fired by the assailant before they were subdued and he was be rushed to Mandera district hospital where he is undergoing treatments.

Several attacks believed to have been carried out by Al-Shabaab have in the recent past occurred in Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa and Dadaab districts of northern Kenya even as the military reports gains against the Islamist group by capturing their military bases and killing scores of them.

Security in key installations in Kenya has been put on a high alert following Kenya’s military operations in Somalia which sparked threats from the Al-Shabaab group that it will retaliate deep in Kenya.