Six killed in cowardly morning Lamu raid attack
By People Team, January 4, 2022Charles Lwanga and Sophie Njoka
Unknown attackers raided a village in Mpeketoni, Lamu County, and killed six people in a dawn attack yesterday.
Lamu County Commissioner, Simon Irungu Macharia, the attackers raided Witho shopping centre in the area at around 3am, isolated their targets before mercilessly killing them.
Of the six victims, four were set ablaze and burnt beyond recognition, another one was beheaded while the last one was shot dead.
Police yesterday identified the deceased persons as Joseph Mwangi; whose house was torched and Francis Kamau who had mysteriously disappeared on Saturday and whose body was found along the road within Witho shopping centre. He had been shot on the head.
The rest were John Murimi and his three employees: Peter Musyoka, Maina Wanjege and Peter Maina, whose bodies were found at Murimi Mangwe drinking den.
Motive of attack
Residents said the assailants struck shortly after 3am and kidnapped one of the victims before stabbing him to death.
“They then shot another person before raiding a nearby popular drinking joint, Murimi Mangwe, where they asked revellers to lie down.
They then tied their hands behind their backs before burning them alive,” said Jefwa
“One of the victims, a male adult who is also a village elder at Witho, was killed at home and his house torched. He had stab wounds in the stomach,” police said.
The County Commissioner said a joint team of security agents was on the ground in hot pursuit of the criminals.
“We urge members of the public not to speculate and leave the security team to investigate and apprehend the criminals involved in this heinous attack,” Macharia stated.
Detectives said the motive of the attack, executed by about 15 men, was yet to be established.
“We have reports that the attackers are locals; believed to have undergone training in the Boni Forest. They are believed to have orchestrated the attack in a similar manner to the Al Shabaab militants,” a senior security officer said.
Some sources alleged that the attack could be related to a land dispute in the area, though police insisted the motive of the attack was yet to be established.
“Local ranchers had told some settlers in the area to vacate, saying it is their area, but since they refused, they decided to orchestrate the attack with the aim of intimidating them to vacate,” claimed a local resident who did not want to be identified for security reasons.
The attackers, who knew their victims well, communicated with them in Kiswahili before killing them.
Residents and the police say the attackers were not heavily armed; with only three out of the 15 armed with rifles while the rest carried crude weapons including machetes and metal bars.
Top security officials in the Coast, led by Regional Co-ordinator John Elunguta hurriedly left Mombasa after news of the attack broke and by yesterday evening were still camping at Witho village, trying to piece together details of the attack.
Other sources say the attackers accused their victims of leaking information to government agents regarding residents who had been recruited to join Al Shabaab.
Locals who escaped the attack are said to have sought refuge at nearby police stations after their houses were torched as police waited for backup from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) personnel based at the nearby Manda Bay.
Night travel
Police finally responded to distress calls from locals at around 6am. Tension remained high in the area despite government efforts to improve security in the region including imposing a ban on night travel.
The County Commissioner said the attackers escaped into the nearby Boni Forest after accomplishing their mission.
Police visited the scene and transported the bodies to Mpeketoni Sub-County Hospital Mortuary for autopsy.
Lamu Senator Anwar Loitiptip condemned the attack and urged residents to cooperate with local security agents, in effort to apprehend the suspects.—Additional reporting by Amenya Ochieng, KNA and Bernice Mbugua