Four GSU Officers Killed in a Suspected Al-Shabaab Attack in Lamu

Four police officers were on Friday morning killed in a suspected Al-Shabaab attack in Lamu.

The four died after the police vehicle carrying them was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade at the Milihoi area of Lamu. This was followed by a fierce exchange of gunfire between the officers and the attackers.

Reports indicate that the officers attached to the General Service Unit (GSU) were on a routine security patrol in the area when they were ambushed.

Confirming the incident, Lamu County Commissioner Irungu Macharia said security officers were deployed to pursue the assailants.

“We had an incident today morning and we have lost four police officers. Their vehicle was hit and caught fire,” said Macharia.

The attack comes days after the government declared several parts of Lamu as “disturbed areas” and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

The move followed Monday’s attack that left at least seven people dead, and several houses torched.

Police erected a roadblock at Ndeu in Hindi on the Lamu-Wetu-Garsen road following the Friday attack. There has not yet been any claim of responsibility for the attack.

Al-Shabaab fighters have been staging attacks in the country in retaliation for Kenya sending troops into Somalia as part of an African Union force to degrade the jihadists.

The al-Qaeda-linked group is determined to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu and controls swathes of southern Somalia from where it regularly launches attacks in Somalia and elsewhere.

Lamu lies close to the Somali border and has suffered frequent attacks, often conducted with roadside bombs.