Police questioning three survivors over Mandera attack

Security officers and Kenya Red Cross officials remove the bodies of some of the 36 quarry workers killed in an attack by Al-Shabaab gunmen in Mandera on December 2, 2014. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• The deputy county commissioner said most of the workers at the quarry were non-locals and non-Muslims.
• He said the attackers ambushed the victims as they slept and bundled them out of their tents at around 1.00am.
• The attack occured at a time when more than 50 people are still at the military camp in Mandera awaiting government evacuation.

By KENNEDY KIMANTHI
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Police were on Tuesday interrogating three men who escaped unhurt after Al-Shabaab militants raided a quarry at Koromey in Mandera County on Tuesday morning, killing 36 people.

Mandera Deputy County Commissioner Elvis Korir said the three survivors were helping police officers with investigations.

“We are interrogating the survivors so that we can be able to get more details about the incident and the perpetrators. We believe the attackers crossed over from Somalia on foot and after the heinous act, they escaped back to their country,” said Mr Korir.

This is Mandera’s worst terrorist attack after 28 non-Muslims were ambushed in a bus and killed 10 days ago.

The deputy county commissioner said most of the workers at the quarry were non-locals and non-Muslims.

The number of the attackers was unknown, he said.

REPORTS OF KIDNAP

Unconfirmed reports indicated that some of the workers could have been kidnapped, but he said the police were yet to verify the reports.

The quarry, he added, is owned by a Muslim. He noted other quarries in the area are also owned by Muslims.

The quarry that was attacked on Tuesday is near a forest on the Kenya-Somalia border and was not guarded, he noted.

“A majority of those who work at the site are from other parts of the country. But we hope we will be getting more information from the survivors.

“We assume that they work at the quarry during the day and go back to centres where there is security,” he said.

Mr Korir said the attackers ambushed the victims as they slept and bundled them out of their tents at around 1am.

According to preliminary reports, the administrator said, the victims were paraded outside their tents and forced to lie face down, in an execution-style massacre similar to the last’s week’s bus attack in which 28 victims — mostly teachers, police officers and civil servants — were killed.

Thirty-four of Tuesday’s attack victims were shot in the head while two others were beheaded.

After last week’s attacks, Mr Korir said security had been beefed up in Mandera Town and its environs.

“We did boost security around Mandera Town. That is why it has been difficult for them to penetrate the town and probably went for a softer target outside the town,” he said.

The attack at a quarry in Mandera happened as more than 50 people were still at a military camp in Mandera awaiting government evacuation. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

AIRLIFTED TO NAIROBI

He told the Nation that the Kenya Red Cross helped to take the bodies of the victims to the Mandera military camp, from where they will be airlifted to Nairobi for identification.

“I am appealing for calm from the public,” he said.

The attack happened as more than 50 people were still at a military camp in Mandera awaiting government evacuation.

Most of the non-local workers sought refuge at the Kenya Defence Forces’ base following the November 22 attack on a Nairobi-bound bus.

The workers asked the government to evacuate them by air because the poor road network had made it easy for Al-Shabaab militants to attack vehicles.

Last week, head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua pleaded with non-locals not to leave Mandera and promised adequate security and increased patrols.