Suspected separatists attack barracks, police camp on Kenya's coast
Mon Nov 3, 2014 4:05pm GMT
* Authorities accuse separatist group of two attacks at the coast
* Attacks come a day after 20 police officers killed in northwest Kenya
* President says will not condone attacks against security personnel (Adds
president's quote)
By Joseph Akwiri
MOMBASA, Kenya, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Kenyan soldiers shot dead six suspected
members of a separatist group after they hacked an officer to death in an
attack on barracks in the port city of Mombasa, police and military
officials said on Sunday.
Also late on Saturday, officers fought off armed men at a police station in
the tourist resort of Malindi, about 120 km (75 miles) north east of
Mombasa.
Authorities believe both attacks were carried out by members of the outlawed
Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), which wants independence for Kenya's
Indian Ocean coastal regions.
Insecurity plagues the East African country and attacks in recent years on
the coast and in the capital have prompted Western nations to issue travel
warnings, hitting the tourist industry, a big contributor to the economy.
The group of between 15 and 20 men that attacked the Mombasa barracks were
dressed in black, wore red and blue ribbons around their heads and legs, and
all had long beards and shaved heads, the port city's County Commissioner,
Nelson Marwa, said.
They were carrying knives, machetes and improvised explosive devices, he
told reporters.
"In the wee hours of today as it was heavily raining, a gang...attempted to
raid the 17 Kenya Rifles barracks in Nyali, but were met with fierce fire.
In the process six of them were gunned down, and several escaped with gun
shots," he said.
"These were guys who were out to engage in war. We are holding one suspect
who was arrested," Marwa said.
One officer who was involved in the fighting and did not wish to be named
said a colleague had been hacked to death.
"They cut one of my colleagues with machetes and killed him and that is why
we responded fiercely, killing many of them," he told Reuters.
MRC secretary general, Randu Nzai Ruwa, denied that the group had been
involved in the attack.
Most attacks in recent years along Kenya's coast have been claimed by the
Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, including the killing of at least 65
people in Lamu in June and July.
Authorities have accused the MRC of involvement in a spate of killings in
2012 and 2013, including attacks on the eve of the presidential elections
when at least 15 people were killed. The group also denies involvement in
any of those attacks.
Colonel David Obonyo, Kenya Defence Forces spokesman, said five of the
attackers in the Mombasa incident were killed on the spot and a sixth was
killed while trying to escape.
Ruwa also denied the MRC's involvement in the Malindi attack, which
authorities said involved about 20 armed men.
"They destroyed police vehicles as they attempted to gain entry but police
officers on duty fired at them and repulsed them," Malindi sub-county
commissioner, Yusuf Mohammed, said.
"We believe several suspects were injured, and we have launched a hunt for
them. We are suspecting the MRC and also linking this incident to the one
that occurred at the navy camp in Mombasa the same night," he said.
In the last few days there have been several attacks on security personnel.
The Interior Ministry has confirmed that 20 police officers and two police
reservists were killed in an ambush in Turkana county in the northwest of
Kenya early on Saturday.
While touring the area where the attack took place in Turkana, President
Uhuru Kenyatta, said theywould be hunted down.
"People arming themselves with the intention of killing security officers
want to say they are the Government," Kenyatta said in a statement.
"I will not allow that, we have only one Government and it will ensure those
involved in this act are brought to book." (Additional reporting by Humphrey
Malalo in Nairobi; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Angus MacSwan)