Al- Shabaab militants today held hostage a Mandera-bound bus for a lecture that lasted two hours.
According to a police report seen by The Informer, an unknown number of heavily armed Al-Shabab militants stopped an Al-Mukaram company passenger bus at Lag Mata Kuta, between Dabacity and Dimu hill, and ordered passengers out.
They searched for non-locals for more than two hours. The assailants had divided themselves into two groups. As one group searched the passengers, the other was on guard, hiding in the bushes.
“They also stopped a taxi from Kotulo heading to Elwak and a motorbike coming from Borehole 11 to Dimu village,” stated the report.
After the search was in vain, they gave a long speech in the Somali language which most of the passengers didn’t comprehend with.
All the travellers were released and have since arrived safely in Mandera county.
Security officers at roadblocks have since been directed not to allow any non-local to travel on the road between Kotulo and Elwak.
General Service Unit (GSU) personnel from the Duse Camp were called in hours after the incident. It remained unclear what happened to the daily armed police escorts of buses plying that road.