Date: Sun, 31 May 2015 23:01:50 +0200
By Liban Golicha and Ali Abdi | Standard Digital
Sunday, May 31st 2015 at 00:00 GMT +3
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000164081/guard-killed-as-ethiopian-fighters-storm-border-post
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000164081/guard-killed-as-ethiopian-fighters-storm-border-post
Sunday, May 31st 2015 at 00:00 GMT +3
A Kenyan security guard was killed and Moyale District Hospital stormed when Ethiopian government forces and members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) exchanged fire at the border point near the Meteorological Department in Moyale, Kenya, at 1 AM yesterday.
The Kenyan government said the OLF militia was not in Kenya. Marsabit County Commissioner Peter Thuku later said, “The Ethiopian fighters were in Illeret and at Sololo and Moyale on several occasions. I have relayed the message to the headquarters. This problem will be dealt with from Nairobi, but there is a real concern about forces crossing into our country.”
Moyale OCPD Thomas Atuti identified the deceased as Boru Huka, a 55-year-old security guard at Full Gospel Primary School.
According to Abduba Wapo, Huka’s colleague, shortly after the gun fight that lasted hours, armed men in uniform rushed into the school. “I hid behind the gate. They broke the fence and grabbed Huka then shot him several times in front of the school gate,” Abduba told The Standard on Sunday at the scene before recording a statement at Moyale Police Station. He said some attackers spoke Oromo.
At about 3 a.m., the same uniformed men stormed Moyale District Hospital and harassed patients and staff. The heavily armed men are said to have gone through the wards brandishing firearms. They could have been looking for injured Ethiopian rivals.
“I saw about seven men armed with rifles enter the maternity ward and harass patients,” Nuria Kasa, a nursing officer, said. “When I asked the watchman what was happening, he said the group had broken the gate and marched into the hospital.” The group left bullet holes in the nurses’ quarters.
Moyale DCIO Ayub Bakari said he had collected several cartridges from the scene and within the hospital compound.