A section of Kenyans vented their frustrations online after the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and the US Africa Command issued seemingly conflicting statements on the Al-Shabaab attack on a US Naval base in Lamu on Sunday, January 5.
Militants raided the Manda Bay Airstrip which is shared by Kenyan and American forces at around 4 a.m. and started wreaking havoc.
Five of the alleged terrorists were reportedly killed with KDF disclosing that a search was going on to find more bodies.
Statements released by the two disciplined forces, however, painted different pictures with the US revealing casualties while KDF failed to acknowledge any losses, taking a more victorious tone.
US authorities confirmed that three people, a service-member and two civilians, were killed in the attack. Two Department of Defense members were also wounded.
They further confirmed that six air-crafts were damaged at the base used by the US to train allied forces and protect US interests in East Africa.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of our teammates who lost their lives today," stated US Army General Stephen Townsend, the commander of U.S. Africa Command.
KDF, on the other hand, only stated that the attack was successfully repulsed and the attackers killed, weapons recovered and the area secured.
"Kenya Military vs American Military. Incident Management & communication. Africom has issued comprehensive public statements since the attack while KDF has elected to deny they suffered attack and losses, repeatedly. Has KDF ever been truthful with Kenyans?" posed Sadiq Shaban.
"Nothing comes out the Dod about their losses both in personnel and equipment, yet the US acknowledged their losses within hours. It's likely Kenyans will never know how many soldiers and equipment was lost fighting shababs both in Kenya and Somalia," wrote TJ_TheDoc.
"You know what is dissappointing? In terms of accuracy of press releases on yesterday's attack, KDF comes second to that of Alshabaab as compared to what Americans admitted to have suffered in losses. You want to support your Army but when they lie to you?" raged Ohta_Ryota
An internal police report shared by AP News Agency had also disclosed that a Kenyan Cessna plane was among the damaged air-crafts, something the KDF statement failed to mention.
Somali-based Al-Shabaab who claimed responsibility for the attack issued their own statement alleging there were seventeen U.S casualties and nine Kenyans killed. KDF, however, cautioned Kenyans on the terror group's known tactics involving propaganda and fake news.
