Kenyans residing in El Wak, Mandera County, joined efforts to prevent fatalities at a construction site that gunmen, believed to be members of Al Shabaab, raided on Sunday morning.
The Standard reported that before the suspects struck Borehole 11, residents had alerted non-locals who were being targeted by the gang.
“They confronted the gunmen who proceeded to the site and failed to get what they wanted.
"They opened fire but no one was injured before they (gunmen) escaped,” North Eastern Regional Commissioner, Mohamed Birik, told reporters.
A resident who spoke to Nation disclosed that “They were four men all armed with their faces covered. They seemed to be in a hurry and wanted the site engineer who was hiding.”
The targeted workers were later evacuated to nearby El wak Centre by police, amid fears of more planned attacks. This comes in the wake of pressure to re-open quarry mines in the region.
Borehole 11 is located eight kilometres from El Wak Town and another 20 kilometres from El-Rhamu along the Kenya-Somalia border.
The only Administration Police Camp providing security at the centre was closed down in 2014, by the national government.
Non-local teachers at schools in the area were transferred to safer areas due to insecurity.
Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiang, in June, re-assured Mandera leaders that quarry mines in the region would be re-opened soon but in a structured manner.
"It is not the intention of the government to sabotage or kill the economy of Mandera. Our only concern has been the level of insecurity at the quarries," Matiang'i explained.
