Nairobi, KENYA: North Eastern legislators have called on the government to closely cooperate with leaders and Wananchi from North Eastern so as to minimize al shaabab aggression.
In a press briefing at parliamentary buildings on Friday, Lafey legislator Abdi Ibrahim and Omar Mohammed Maalim of Mandera East said that the cooperation between the stakeholders in the region will curb the attacks allegedly masterminded by Alshabaab terror group from neighboring Somalia.
They urged the residents to share any intelligence they might be having to the government so as to help it counter any terror attempts in the region.
“The local administrative units the chiefs, the sub-county officers, the DCs, The county officers must also be able to interact with the local communities in order to get intelligence beforehand and this intelligence must be acted upon by the forces on the ground,” Ibrahim said
The legislators urged security forces to enhance patrol in Mandera County after asserting that the county is susceptible to Alshabaab attacks.
They said that there is a need for the Kenya Defence Forces to be deployed along the border to bar terrorists from entering the country from Somalia.
“Kdf must be able to come to the border so that they can be able to minimize the movement of this terror groups to Kenya.That is what can be done to minimize this risk.”He said
Their statement follows reports that at least five police officers were killed in a suspected Al-Shabaab attack on two camps at Fino Ward in Lafey, Mandera County.
The dead include four administration police officers and a reservist in the Friday dawn attack.
According to North Eastern regional Commissioner Mohamud Saleh said the attackers targeted Administration and Kenya Police camps in the area.
Saleh indicated that attackers first trained their guns on a Safaricom mast in Lafey town to disable communication, before storming the camps.
