Saturday, July 02, 2016
One of the buses that was attacked by Al-Shabaab near Elwak, Mandera County, on July 1, 2016. Six people were killed in the attack. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
By LUCAS BARASA
Mandera Governor Ali Roba has asked the government to recruit 900 Kenya Police Reservists in Mandera, Wajir and Garissa counties to fight Al-Shabaab.
Condemning bus attacks in Elwak on Friday morning that left six people dead and eight injured, Mr Roba said the KPR deployment was one of the requests made to President Uhuru Kenyatta by governors, senators and MPs from the region and is yet to be implemented.
Mr Roba, who cut short his Ramadhan trip to Saudi Arabia on Friday following the attacks, said counties bordering Somalia should each have at-least 300 KPRs to conduct patrols to prevent Al-Shabaab from entering the country.
Mr Roba told the Nation by phone from Saudi Arabia that said five passengers and one police reservist died during the attack between Elwak and Wargadud.
Eight passengers were injured. Three of them were transferred to Mandera Referral Hospital.
Although the government had provided enough security to Mandera, Mr Roba said the personnel only conducted patrols on main road while Al-Shabaab operates in the bushes.
"This makes it very difficult to overcome the challenge of terror cells movement. That is why as North Eastern leaders we had requested for 300 KPRs to be positioned in Mandera and work under police and chiefs," Mr Roba said.
He said the reservists should work in zones and complement security personnel who are reluctant to do foot patrol due to lack of knowledge of the local terrain.