Multi-agency teams were on Wednesday searching for two miners who are believed to have been kidnapped in an attack near a quarry in the Shimbir area, Mandera County.
The incident happened on June 18 at about 1 pm.
The four gunmen behind the incident had been hiding in the bush in the Chachabole area when they struck.
According to police and witnesses, six loaders were on board a lorry headed for the site when the incident happened.
Two of the loaders who were abducted are non-locals and were identified as John Kambua and Martin Musyoki.
This was after four others who are locals managed to escape as the four gunmen emerged from the bushes, leaving the victims to be abducted, they said.
The gang left with the two miners for an unknown destination, police said.
Efforts to trace them were ongoing, police said. The incident came as detectives were investigating the murder of a miner at a quarry in the Quramadhoo area, Elwak, Mandera County.
The body of Naftali Wanjohi, 40, was found on June 16, 2025 found at the site hours after his murder.
Police said his skull had a fracture, his left ear had been chopped off, and he had deep cuts on the neck and hand.
Police said the deceased and colleagues were at a quarry site when they were attacked. The colleagues managed to escape unhurt.
The motive of the attack and murder is yet to be known. Police suspect a militia from a local clan was involved in the murder. The body was moved to the mortuary pending autopsy and investigations.
This comes two months after four other quarry workers were killed in a similar attack while on the way to their workplace in Bur Abor Village in Mandera East, Mandera County.
Police in the area linked the attack on suspected al-Shabaab militants who had been spotted in the area.
All the victims were non-locals who were working at a quarry for a living when they were attacked on April 29. Police who visited the scene said 39 empty cartridges of 7.62 special and two live rounds were recovered.
The other 13 passengers were able to escape the attack and are all accounted for after all were recovered from the bushy terrain.
The driver and his co-driver, who were supposed to carry the security with them but did not, were arrested and placed in custody to assist with the investigation, police said. The victims have been excavating stones for construction in the area.
Witnesses said the militants ambushed a vehicle with the workers by blocking the road with stones before embarking on their mission.
The workers usually spend the nights in Mandera town for security reasons before they are picked up from the quarries.
Most of the quarries in the area are dominated by non-locals.
This is not the first time such an incident has happened in the area amid operations to address al-Shabaab threats.
Witnesses said the attackers were armed with rifles when they struck and ordered the workers to lie down.
They then shot them at close range. The area is under the multi-agency security operation and is near the Kenya-Somalia border.
The multi-agency operation seeks to flush out the militants from the.
This has seen a significant reduction in such incidents.
