Gunmen shoot at police camp in Mandera 

FILE IMAGE OF A POLICE LINE

Gunmen believed to be al-Shabaab militants shot into a police camp in Elram, Kotulo, Mandera County, in what many believed to be a probing mission.

This is the latest such incident to happen in the area in the past months amid fears the terror group plans to overrun a police camp for weapons and send a message.

On Wednesday January 14 at night the militia fired a Rocket Propelled Grenade into the Elram Anti Stock Theft Unit. It exploded near the camp defence and was followed by a rapid fire from PKM and AK47 rifles, police said.

The team present fired back and repulsed the gang which escaped. No injuries were reported. Police said they believe the gang is roaming the area with a mission to strike at a security installation.

The operations teams have since been put on alert and told to be ready for fight with the gangs. Clearing teams collected dozens of spent cartridges from the scene.

The gangs have in the past two weeks stolen a police car after shooting and seriously wounded a police driver.
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, which is 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.

Kenya has been making efforts to address the menace at the border areas.