Five police officers have been killed and three others reportedly injured after suspected al-Shabab militants attacked two security camps in Kenya’s northeastern Mandera county, that shares a border with Somalia.

The attack comes barely a month after suspected al-Shabab militants killed three people in Wajir, a town also on the Kenya-Somalia border.

Friday’s early-morning attack occurred at the Kenya Police and Administration Police camps in Fino town.

Abdi Rizak, a member of the Mandera County Assembly who works 40 kilometers from Fino, said information about an attack had been circulating for two weeks.

He said local leaders had given the information to agencies, because locals were skeptical about working with police.

“The local people are fearing to give the government the information, because they feel this person, if he brings the information, they are thinking the government will say they are part of al-Shabab,” Rizak said. “That is why the people of the local area are fearing to bring the information. But for us, as leaders, when we give them the information some of them, when you tell them the information, they tell you they are aware.”

George Musamali, a security analyst in Nairobi, said local communities in Mandera are critical in the fight against terrorism and should not be ignored.

“We have very many sympathizers of al-Shabab within the local population and then we have another group that is not sympathetic to al-Shabab, that is willing to share information with the security agencies, and there is no way we can fight terrorism or any form of crime without collaborating with members of the local community. In security, we call this popular intelligence,” Musamali said.

Friday’s attack could have been avoided, according to Musamali.

“The most unfortunate bit is that right now we cannot blame the intelligence, because the information we have out here is that intelligence had given information about this eminent attack,” he said. “They had even given the police the name of the ring leader of the group that was coming to carry out the attacks in that area and, therefore, it clearly shows that there is a lot of laxity within the security organs. Clearly this was a well-planned and coordinated attack, and it calls into question the measures that have been put in place by the Kenyan government to secure that part of the country.”

Al-Shabab has frequently attacked Kenya, hitting civilian targets in retaliation for Kenya’s involvement in military action against the group in Somalia.
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