A General Service Unit (GSU) officer was shot and injured during a suspected Al-Shabaab attack at the GSU camp in Bodhai, Garissa County, on Sunday morning.
The officer of a GSU Company, was on sentry duty at the camp, which shares a compound with Bodhai Police Station, when the incident occurred.
According to police, the incident happened at around 8.20am when the officer left his sentry position to switch off a water pump located nearby.
He was shot in the lower abdomen, with the bullet penetrating below his navel and exiting through his back.
Other officers responded to the attack and managed to repel the suspected militants.
The injured officer was subsequently evacuated to Manda Air Base by Kenya Army personnel using a military helicopter for further medical attention.
A combined security team comprising officers from the Special Operations Group (SOG), GSU, Kenya Police Service (KPS) and National Police Reservists (NPR) launched a security operation in the area.
During a search on the western side of the station, the officers discovered three sets of footprints believed to belong to suspected al-Shabaab militants.
Security officers were pursuing the suspected attackers as investigations and efforts to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident continued.
The attack comes amid ongoing security operations in the region to counter threats posed by al-Shabaab militants.
The government has mounted operations in the area to address the militants’ activities.
They usually cross from Somalia through the porous border and attack before fleeing back to their bases.
Kenya has deployed additional security personnel and surveillance technology in northeastern counties to counter militant incursions, protect communities and secure critical supply routes.
The attacks have disrupted movement, threatened livelihoods and complicated the delivery of public services in areas close to the border.
Al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant group based in Somalia and affiliated with al-Qaeda, has carried out attacks in Kenya in retaliation for the country’s military involvement in Somalia and its support for efforts to combat the group.
Kenya launched Operation Linda Nchi on October 14, 2011, sending troops into Somalia following a series of kidnappings of foreigners in Kenya, including tourists along the coast. The operation marked a major escalation in Kenya’s military campaign against the militant group.
Somalia has faced decades of conflict and political instability since the collapse of President Siad Barre’s government in 1991. Although successive administrations have rebuilt state institutions and security forces, Al-Shabaab continues to control or contest territory and stage attacks.
Kenyan security agencies have continued operations along the border to prevent militant infiltration and reduce attacks targeting security officers and civilians.
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