Somali Islamists attack Kenyan police outpost

Posted by AFP on February 19, 2012

Al-Shabab is one of three major terrorist groups threatening stability in Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – Gunmen believed to be Somali Al Shabaab insurgents killed a Kenyan policeman in the northeastern border region with war-torn Somalia, the latest in a string of attacks, police said Sunday.

“We lost one officer in the raid late on Friday night, and another person shot in the attack is still in hospital,” a senior police officer in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The attack took place at Fafi in Garissa district, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the frontier with Somalia.

“One rifle loaded with at least 20 bullets was stolen by gunmen, who escaped to Somalia,” the police officer added.

Regional police chief Leo Nyongesa confirmed the attack, adding that no arrests had been made but that “the attackers are being sought.”

The shooting was the latest in a string of attacks in northeast Kenya since Nairobi sent troops into southern Somalia last October to fight Al-Qaeda allied Shabaab insurgents.

Regional armies are pushing against Shabaab positions in Somalia, with Kenyan forces in the far south, Ethiopian soldiers in the west and African Union forces in the capital Mogadishu made up of troops from Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti.

In retaliation, the Shabaab have carried out grenade attacks and abductions in areas near the porous Kenya-Somalia border, killing and wounding several people.