Tension as Al-Shabaab insurgents storm Mangai village in Boni Forest, preach to locals

Tension is high at Mangai in Boni Forest, Lamu County after more than 150 heavily armed Al-Shabaab militants raided the village and preached radicalised teachings to the locals for 30 minutes.

A police report stated that the terrorists distributed date fruits to the locals shortly after the lecture before fleeing to the dense Boni Forest.

The incident happened on Saturday evening around 6 pm when residents, most of whom are Muslims, were preparing for the evening prayers and breaking the fast.

According to the police report, an area administrator informed the Mangai security camp about the Saturday evening ambush.

“Around 6 pm, and as the locals were preparing for evening prayers, Al-Shaabab operatives numbering about 150 raided Mangai village, approximately 80 kilometres South West of the station, where they probed the Border Patrol Unit (BPU) Mangai camp before splitting into two groups. One of the groups was left manning the BPU camp as the other one entered the village where they looked for the area chiefs and National Police Reservists (NPR) officers from the said locality. They later lectured the locals before distributing date fruits to them and later left for an unknown destination. No casualties were reported during the incident. The area still remains tense. Any further progress report to be communicated,” the report stated.

Lamu County Commissioner Wesley Koech also confirmed the incident but was quick to say that security has been intensified in Mangai and its environs even as the terrorists were being pursued.

Koech called on locals to share information with the police, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and other security agencies so as to help conquer the enemy. He also called on the public not to be deterred as the situation is being monitored and managed.

“First, there is no death or injury reported in the Saturday evening raid by suspected Al-Shabaab terrorists in Mangai Village. They only ambushed locals, preached to them and distributed dates to them and left. We’re monitoring the situation and everything is under control. There is no cause for worry,” said the county commissioner by phone.

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Lamu has for years witnessed cases of terrorist attacks and killings that have left many civilians and security agents dead.

The worst Al-Shabaab attack happened in Mpeketoni and Kibaoni on the night of June 15, 2014, where more than 90 people were killed and properties worth millions of shillings, including vehicles and houses, were destroyed.

There have been recent in the villages of Juhudi, Widho, Salama, Mashogoni, Marafa, Pandanguo, Witu and surrounding areas between 2023 and early 2024 where 30 residents were killed.

The national government has been keen on fighting the insecurity menace caused by the Somalia-based Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab insurgents.

In September 2015, the state launched a multi-agency security operation dubbed Linda Boni, with the key aim of flushing out Al-Shabaab militants believed to be hiding inside the vast Boni Forest.

The ongoing operation has greatly helped to bring down cases of rampant Al-Shabaab attacks and killings that were being witnessed in Lamu.

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