Somalia intelligence officers have handed back the AK47 and G3 rifles that were stolen from two officers who were attacked in Mandera town on Friday.

Rogue Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) officers shot and killed Constable Dennis Omari and seriously injured his colleague, Constable Sadam Salat who is also a police driver.

The rogue Somali officers have been identified and are said to have escaped from the camp and are hiding in Dolow town.

“Senior officials of NISA, the national intelligence agency of the Federal Republic of Somalia, have assured us that they will arrest and hand over the rogue officers to face prosecution,” a senior detective said.

He added: “Only 10 out of the 90 rounds of ammunition stolen were returned. The deceased’s firearm, G3 rifle, had a total of 60 rounds while the AK47 rifle had 30 rounds of ammunition.”

Opened fire

The attack happened on Friday when five officers from the Border Police Unit (BPU) manning the Kenya-Somalia border at Border Point 4 were attacked by about 20 NISA officers.

The group opened fire at the Kenyan team killing Constable Omari on the spot and leaving Constable Salat with gunshot injuries. Salat was treated at Mandera Referral Hospital and later airlifted to Nairobi for specialized treatment.

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said the motive of the attack was revenge of a previous arrest of terror suspects where a group tried to abduct Chinese nationals in the town last month.

The DCI Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) added that the attack was coordinated by a brother of one of the suspects who is a NISA officer.

Senior detectives had visited the scene as part of the probe into the attack and sent demands for the handover of the guns and suspects behind the attack. Hours later, Somalia authorities called to say they had the guns and were ready to hand them back.

Trouble started last month when, following the failed abduction, ATPU detectives drawn from the Mandera detachment arrested the Assistant Chief of Bula Power sub location in Mandera Township in connection with his involvement in an attempted and illegal processing of Kenyan IDs in favour of two foreign nationals cum terror suspects.

The suspects identified as Isack Mohammed Abdi and Noor Yakub Ali were arrested in a failed abduction plan targeting Chinese nationals in the town on February 18.

The administrator is suspected to have facilitated the procurement of an acknowledgement for ID card registration slip for the terror suspects who were arrested while planning the abduction of a team of foreign nationals engaged in the construction of a sewer line in Mandera town.

On February 18, police in Mandera East arrested two suspected Al Shabaab operatives, who had planned the abduction of foreigners working at a sewer line construction site within Mandera Township.

Acting on intelligence, detectives arrested the prime suspect, Isaac Abdi Mohamed alias Kharan Abdi Hassan, 29, who had recently sneaked into the country from El-Ade in Somalia using forged documents.