Nairobi – Lamu County, Kenya was the scene of yet another deadly attack at the weekend claimed by al-Shabaab, prompting local authorities to impose a month-long night-time curfew in the region in an attempt to get the security situation under control.<\/p>\n
On Friday (July 18th), gunmen opened fire on a bus travelling from Mombasa to Lamu near the town of Witu, 50 kilometres from the island of Lamu.<\/p>\n
Police suspect that the gunmen used a hijacked Toyota Probox to block the road before attacking the bus, and later a police vehicle that responded to the scene, killing seven people and injuring nine others.<\/p>\n
“At around 7pm on Friday, a 45-seater bus named Tahmeed was sprayed with bullets,” Lamu County Commissioner Miiri Njenga told Sabahi. “Regrettably, the drivers of the bus and Probox car and a nurse who worked at Hindi hospital were killed.”<\/p>\n
The gunmen also killed four police officers who rushed to the scene, Njenga said. “One policeman was injured in the stomach plus eight people are admitted in various hospitals nursing varied injuries.”<\/p>\n
Al-Shabaab immediately claimed credit for the attack, saying the group was “ready to act or attack anywhere necessary within Kenya”.<\/p>\n
“The attacks are a clear response to the government of Kenya’s false claim that they beefed up security in the area,” al-Shabaab military spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP.<\/p>\n
But Njenga dismissed the claims that the latest attack runs contrary to the government’s assertion that security has been beefed up in the region.<\/p>\n
“The fact that four police officers were killed and two others injured is testimony enough that we have heightened security personnel presence in Lamu,” he told Sabahi.<\/p>\n
“The police presence prevented more casualties,” he said, adding that authorities were not ruling out the possibility that other groups may be responsible for the attacks.<\/p>\n
Curfew meets resistance<\/strong><\/p>\n Following the attack, Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo issued curfew orders from 6:30 pm to 6:30 am for one month effective Sunday (July 20th).<\/p>\n The curfew was met with resistance, however, from the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) and National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, who argued that it will affect Muslims observing Ramadan.<\/p>\n “This week is one of the most important weeks in the holy month of Ramadan where Muslims all over the world take time to devote, pray and repent,” Duale told Kenya’s The Standard. “We have told the inspector general of police to partially lift the curfew and only enforce it in the highways but not towns where religious activities are going on.”<\/p>\n SUPKEM Secretary General Adan Wachu said that while he believed the government issued the curfew in good faith, many factors were not taken into consideration.<\/p>\n “Kimaiyo needs to put in abeyance the curfew until end of the Ramadhan to enable Muslims in the region operate freely because it affects and impedes their rights and liberties,” Wachu said.<\/p>\n By late Monday, Kimaiyo announced that the curfew would be relaxed to allow residents observing Ramadan to attend nightly prayers.<\/p>\n “Technically, the curfew is in force with the exception of nightly praying times,” Duale told Sabahi.<\/p>\n “Police will be educated on the time of the prayers so that anyone found in between the prayers can answer on their own what they are doing,” he said, adding that Muslim faithful have been urged to co-operate with the security forces to make the last days of Ramadan peaceful.<\/p>\n Gibson Waweru, a laboratory technician at a clinic in Kongowea, about 30 kilometres from Mpeketoni, said the curfew would only play into the hands of criminals wanting to instil fear among residents and cripple the region’s economy.<\/p>\n “It is not logical for the government to order us to be indoors by 6:30 pm when the gunmen have attacked people inside their houses,” he said, adding that the security forces must change their tactics in order to be effective.<\/p>\n “There is large presence of security forces we see around, but they are very predictable in their operations,” he said. “They move en masse at given times and the places they leave behind become vulnerable to attacks.”<\/p>\n Shooting spree in Mombasa<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile on Sunday, at least four people were killed and eight wounded in the Soweto neighbourhood of Mombasa in an attack by armed men on a motorbike, according to medical sources.<\/p>\n Mombasa’s chief of police Robert Kitur told AFP the identity of the killers was not yet known and no group has claimed responsibility.<\/p>\n Joshua Mutua, 44, who operates a M-pesa money transfer kiosk and witnessed the attack, said he saw one hooded gunmen embark from a motorcycle while brandishing what looked like an AK-47 assault rifle.<\/p>\n “I thought he was a plainclothes policeman but when he started shooting indiscriminately at people, I took cover under my shop,” he told Sabahi. “I could hear panicked people shouting and running.”<\/p>\n When the guns went silent, Mutua said he peered through a gap in his shop and saw a middle-aged man whom he had earlier sold mobile airtime shot in the leg and lying in a pool of blood.<\/p>\n “He was writhing in pain but no one dared offer immediate help for fear that killers were waiting for people to rise up,” he said.<\/p>\n Mutua said many people are speculating about the motive behind the attack, but he hopes al-Shabaab has not expanded their “reign of terror” from Lamu to Mombasa.<\/p>\n “This would be a nightmare to us and a living hell because it means not even a large town like Mombasa is safe anymore,” he said.<\/p>\n If al-Shabaab is indeed behind the latest attack in Lamu, it could mean the group is strategically targeting the coastal town in order to cripple the Kenyan economy, said Kenyan security analyst and retired army Major Bashir Haji Abdullahi.<\/p>\n “Lamu County is a tourist hub for Kenya. Attacking the county attracts international attention also because some foreigners own properties there,” he told Sabahi.<\/p>\n “Another issue is the religious factor,” he said. “Lamu County is inhabited by Muslims and Christians almost equally. The two faiths have coped well with each other for years. By launching attacks, al-Shabaab would want to create animosity between the faiths and spark sectarian violence which will play into the group’s hands.”<\/p>\n ‘Runaway terror’<\/strong><\/p>\n Whoever is responsible for the attacks, Alphanus Akama, 32, a private security guard in Mombasa, said he would be moving his family to his home county of Kisii at the end of the month.<\/p>\n “The sustained attacks have dented the credibility of the government and security forces assurance to the residents of their safety,” he told Sabahi. “We feel that either the authorities do not have the means or the will to take on the attackers and end the violence.”<\/p>\n Another Mombasa resident, John Mwandeghu, 41, a lift machine operator at Kilindini harbour, said the killers were attacking at will with little intervention from the security forces.<\/p>\n “In reality, the attack in Kenya’s second biggest city shows the government is clueless on how to tame the runaway terror, prevent attacks or apprehend the culprits,” he told Sabahi.<\/p>\n Margaret Katana, 30, a teller at Tusky’s supermarket in Mombasa, said she was confused about whom to believe since the government blames the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) while al-Shabaab takes responsibility and backs its actions with explanations.<\/p>\n “As citizens, we really are not interested to know who is responsible. All we want to hear is that the killers have either been killed or apprehended and end to finger pointing and lame excuses,” she demanded.<\/p>\n Katana expressed fear that the government is either overwhelmed and in denial or is repeating security strategies that have failed.<\/p>\n “Lamu has not known peace for months now, yet the place is supposed to be secure and peaceful, swarming with security agents combing all corners of the county for killers who are so daring such that they kill both members of the public and law enforcement agents,” she said. “I wonder, who is supposed to protect who?”<\/p>\n