Roadside Bomb Hits Bus, Kills 13 on Kenya-Somalia Border

Al-Shabab in 2015 attacked a convoy on the same road as Monday’s attack that was carrying Mandera Governor Ali Roba, killing three people, including two police officers.

News Keydmedia Online
31 January 2022

A man is transported on a stretcher after he was injured when a bus he was riding in drove onto a roadside bomb, near the Kenya-

NAIROBI — Kenyan police say one suspect has been arrested after an improvised explosive device killed at least 13 passengers and injured others in a bus traveling in northeast Kenya near the border with Somalia.

Kenyan police in northeast Mandera county say the 14-seat bus was heading to Mandera town early Monday when it drove over the roadside bomb.

Kenyan media reports cited witnesses saying they heard gunfire after the deadly explosion.

The Nation Media Group quoted the region’s police chief Bunei Rono as saying one suspect was arrested in connection with the bombing and was being questioned.

While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicion is expected to fall on the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

The Somali terror group has in the past launched several cross-border attacks on security forces and public transportation.

The al-Qaida-linked group is blamed for most of the northeastern and coastal region’s attacks, though analysts say some of the violence is due to local and political disputes.

Al-Shabab in 2015 attacked a convoy on the same road as Monday’s attack that was carrying Mandera Governor Ali Roba, killing three people, including two police officers.

Kenyan police say suspected al-Shabab fighters on Wednesday sprayed vehicles carrying judicial officials with bullets in nearby Lamu county, injuring several people.