Lamu hospitals put on the spot for assisting al-Shabaab

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Lamu, KENYA: Linda Boni security operation director Joseph Kanyiri has put health facilities in areas where the operation is being conducted in Lamu for aiding al-Shabaab.

The operation is currently ongoing in three border counties of Lamu, Garissa and Tana River.

Speaking on Monday, Kanyiri said a number of health facilities in Lamu, Witu, Garsen, Ijara, Sanghailu, Msalani and Galmagala are believed to be secretly giving out medical supplies to Alshabaab militants.

The facilities have also been accused of treating al-Shabaab militants especially when they encounter security officers and suffer gunshots.

He said that has been happening despite pleas by the security office for health facilities to be on the lookout for Alshabaab militants seeking treatment and medical help from them.

Kanyiri cited the November 26 incident last year when over 20 kilos of cartons full of medical supplies were found floating on the Indian Ocean shores at Shella area in Lamu, saying the drugs were being ferried to an al-Shabaab hideout before the suspects fled upon realizing they had been sighted by security officers.

He said he was aware that some medical staff were secretly colluding with al-Shabaab militants by supplying them constantly with drugs and other medical supplies.

He said there is a reason why al-shabaab militants no longer raid and vandalize dispensaries and health facilities as they used to do initially and that’s because they had agreements with particular health facilities to supply them with such.

“We already have sufficient leads on these health facilities who have been aiding al-Shabaab and giving them drugs and treatment.Currently, we know of five which are under the radar.These facilities have people who have been taking drugs to al-Shabaab deep into the Boni forest.Investigations are on course,” said Kanyiri.

Kanyiri has also implicated community members in areas where the operation is taking place saying they have been aware and sometimes in touch with al-Shabaab militants who have been launching attacks in various parts of the region.

He said there was adequate Intel that some of the community members in Nyongoro,Gamba, Lango la Simba, Milihoi and Ijara all of which are terror hotspots have been assisting the militants by housing them after they have conducted attacks and feeding them.

The community members are also said to give out information concerning movement of security officers conducting the Linda Boni operation.

He said it was unfortunate that there was a section of people who were willing to make Alshabaab militants comfortable even as they continue killing innocent people in the county.

“Each time an attack happens and we deploy officers to the scene, not a single terrorist is found.Do these militants vanish like ghosts?of course not!It obviously means someone hides them from us deliberately.We are warning such people to be cautious,you’re either with or against the government,” said Kanyiri.

In the meantime the security chief insists that the government shall not relent in its quest to rid Lamu of al-Shabaab and that as such, more security officers had been deployed to conduct the Linda Boni operation whose main objective is to rid Lamu and neighboring counties of al-Shabaab.

He dismissed claims that the operation that the security operation had failed to achieve its mandate three years after it was launched and said so far the operation had been successful.

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