The Mandera ambush took place barely 72 hours after Joseph Boinett took over as Inspector General of Police, promising to keep Kenyans safe. His predecessor David Kimaiyo resigned under pressure following terrorist attacks culminating in the two massacres in Mandera in which a total 64 people were murdered.
The attack on Roba's convoy came a day after a US drone strike in Somalia killed a senior al Shabaab leader, Adan Garar, believed to be a mastermind of the Mandera slaughters as well as the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi in September 2013 when 67 people were killed.
The Friday morning Mandera ambush was carried out by militants armed with guns and bazookas. Gunmen sprayed the convoy with bullets. One report said a rocket propelled grenade was used in the assault on the road between Fino and Lafey. Al Qaeda linked al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack on one of its radio stations in Somalia.
It said two vehicles were destroyed and weapons captured. Two of the dead were police officers, an AP sergeant and an AP corporal, who were not immediately identified. Also killed was former Mandera county council chairman Abdi Jibo and his driver.
Two other police, another AP sergeant and corporal, were among those injured, a number of them seriously. Roba also escaped death or injury in October last year when suspected al Shabaab militants attacked his convoy.
