Five people were on Friday killed by suspected Al Shabaab Militants in Mandera county, bringing the number of slain individuals in the country in the last one month to 40.
Armed attackers arrived at Equity Bank in Elwak town, Mandera County in a Toyota Probox car and opened fire, shooting indiscriminately.
Three civilians and two police officers securing the bank were confirmed dead after the attack that last for about fifteen minutes.
Mandera County Commissioner Fredrick Shisia said that police are pursuing the killers, who fled towards the Kenya-Somalia border.
“The vehicle sped towards Somalia and we are coordinating with the security forces across the border to arrest the culprits,” said Shisia.
One of the attackers is said to have been killed during the gunfight between the attackers and the police, but his colleagues fled with his body towards Bura Hache area.
Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet declined to comment on the incident. “We don’t know the details yet so we can’t talk about it at the moment,” he said.
At around the same time of the attack, passengers traveling in a Toyota Hilux heading to Mandera from Elwak narrowly escaped death they ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), but no one was injured.
