A police officer is fighting for his life in a hospital after being shot by suspected al Shabaab gunmen in Diff, Wajir County.
The attack took place at Diff Shopping Centre on New Year Day, police said.
The police onstable driver was ambushed by assailants armed with AK-47 rifles, believed to be al-Shabaab militia.
The officer was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser within Diff township when he attempted to make a U-turn.
It was at that moment that the attackers opened fire, shooting him in the chest and mouth, with one bullet reportedly exiting through his mouth.
The attackers were using a white, numberless Toyota Probox and were four in number. Two staged the attack as the others remained in the waiting car.
After shooting the officer, the gang robbed him of the police vehicle and fled towards Hambalash Road near the Kenya-Somalia border.
The injured officer was rushed to Diff KDF Military Clinic, where he is in critical condition and is awaiting to be transferred to Wajir County Referral Hospital for specialized treatment.
Security agencies have since moved in, with the Police and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) jointly securing the scene and conducting intensive patrols in the area in pursuit of the attackers and recovery of the stolen government vehicle.
The incident came a day after gunmen believed to be the same gang probed Fino Special Operations Group camp in Mandera.
They did this by firing one RPG round. Officials said the team on the ground responded and successfully repulsed the attackers.
Intelligence reports show the terrorists are roaming the area with an intention of staging attacks on security agencies.
Security agencies continue to enhance operations along the Kenya-Somalia border to avert continued attempts by the al-Shabaab militia to infiltrate the country.
Somalia has not had an effective central government since the 1991 overthrow of President Siad Barre’s military regime, which ushered in more than two decades of anarchy and conflict in a country deeply divided along clan lines.
Kenya launched Operation Linda Nchi on October 14, 2011, after gunmen seized tourists at the Coast, which the Government saw as a threat to the country’s sovereignty, as it targeted the nation’s economic lifeline-Tourism.
The latest IGAD analysis of the threat of terrorism in the Horn of Africa region, Kenya faced heightened vulnerability to cross-border spillovers from neighbouring conflict zones between July and September, a challenge now extending to the last quarter of the year.
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