Two policemen shot dead in eastern Kenya trouble spot
NAIROBI | Fri Nov 16, 2012 8:22am EST
(Reuters) - Two policemen were shot dead on Friday at a market in the
eastern Kenyan town of Garissa, a base for security forces fighting
insurgents in neighboring Somalia.
The policemen, among a group of five officers, were on a routine inspection
at the town's main market when they were attacked, said Garissa police chief
George Losku.
"The attackers shot dead two of the officers while the other three engaged
the attackers in a gunfight," he said.
It was not immediately clear if the attackers were connected to Somali
Islamist militants and their sympathizers, blamed by the government in
Nairobi for a surge in grenade and gun attacks in the past year following
Kenya's deployment of troops into Somalia to battle al Qaeda-linked al
Shabaab rebels.
Garissa, a market centre for trade in camels, donkeys, goats and cattle
located 200 km (120 miles) from the Somali border, is an operating centre
for the military mission and a target for the insurgency - one of the Kenyan
government's major headaches ahead of a March election.
Kenyan soldiers and Somali forces seized Kismayu, al Shabaab's last major
urban stronghold in southern Somalia, six weeks ago, driving the militants
out.
In July, attacks on two churches in Garissa killed 17. Since then there have
been sporadic grenade attacks.
Separately, in the southern coastal city of Mombasa, a man threw a grenade
at a local administrator's office, wounding three people, including the
official, police said.
"These are al Shabaab operatives who ran away from Somalia after the
invasion of our forces, especially in Kismayu," Robert Kitur, Coast region
deputy police chief, said.
The attack took place in Kwale, 20 km (12 miles) south of Mombasa, an area
known as a stronghold for the separatist Mombasa Republican Council (MRC),
which is campaigning for the secession of Kenya's Indian Ocean coastal
strip, a tourist and trade hub.
The government has intensified a crackdown on MRC members and supporters in
recent months, though some senior members have recently been released on
bail.
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Received on Fri Nov 16 2012 - 08:56:42 EST
