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Kenyan Forces launch operation after 100 gunmen storm Lamu village

The gunmen assembled Mangai villagers on Saturday, lectured them and offered them free dates.

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by CYRUS OMBATI

News17 March 2025 - 08:58
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In Summary


  • The move by the gang has raised tension in the village amid fears they could come back for a deadly attack.
  • Police said the gang is believed to be members of the terror group al Shabaab.

Gunmen/Star illustrations

 

Tens of the multi-agency team were sent to a village in Lamu County after about 100 gunmen raided there, lectured locals, and offered them free dates.

The move by the gang has raised tension in the village amid fears they could come back for a deadly attack.

Police said the gang believed to be members of the terror group al Shabaab went to Mangai village, which is part of the larger Boni Forest and assembled the villagers on Saturday evening before embarking on their mission.

The area is near the porous Kenya-Somalia border.

Witnesses said the gunmen introduced themselves as members of the outlawed group.

They then started to radicalise locals and spread their extremist ideology, witnesses said.

There were no casualties in the invasion, officials said.

The militants distributed dates (fruits) to villagers before they left.

A joint security team was Sunday dispatched to the area to flush out the militants.

The police said Monday the new operation had covered a huge area in effort to drive out the gang which was hooded during the raid.

The team has talked to victims as part of the operation.

The gunmen entered Mangai village, which is about 80 kilometers southwest of the Mangai Border Patrol Unit camp, police said adding the gang knew the location of security agents.

They had earlier probed the camp before splitting into two groups, police said.

One group remained behind to watch the camp as the other entered the village for their mission.

The gunmen were mostly armed with AK47 rifles and hooded, witnesses said.

They stormed the village and lectured locals for about 30 minutes about the importance of respecting Islam and its teachings.

They also the locals not to cooperate with the government and before leaving, they warned locals not to tell the police or the military about their presence in the village.

Police have called on locals to share information about the gunmen with security agencies so as to help flush out the militants.

Lamu has for years been the scene of terrorist attacks targeting both locals and security officers.

The worst attack happened in Mpeketoni and Kibaoni on the night of June 15, 2014, when more than 90 people were killed.

The area is under a special operation code named Operation Linda Boni to flush out the terrorists there. 

Masalani, Sangailu, Ijara and Handaro are all within the Linda Boni Operation zone.

The multi-agency operation seeks to flush out al-Shabaab militants from Boni Forest.

The government has been developing the area as part of efforts to address the menace.

A port, more roads, hospitals, and schools have been developed as part of efforts to open the area to development and address terror-related attacks.

Some locals also claim the area has been neglected over the years hence the frequent attacks, which are at times facilitated by villagers.

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