A matatu driver on Wednesday, October 23, performed a heroic act when he outwitted suspected Al Shabaab terrorists in an attempted terror attack, Daily Nation reported.
The driver (name withheld) in Mandera South was travelling along the Elwak-Borehole 11 Road with eight passengers on board when he was flagged down by about 10 gunmen.
Confirming the incident, Mandera County Commissioner Onesmus Kyatha stated that the driver noticed the suspicious men but opted to speed off.
“A vehicle ferrying construction workers from Borehole 11 was last evening targeted by suspected Al Shabaab militants but their driver saved them,” Kyatha was quoted by the publication.
The suspected militants sprayed the vehicle with bullets after the driver disobeyed their order and in the process deflated a tyre.
He managed to get away from the gunmen while driving with a flat tyre.
“The driver is a local but most of the passengers were non-locals whom we believe were the target. The attackers shot at the vehicle but no one was injured,” he disclosed.
Kyatha told journalists that the vehicle had been hired by a construction firm building a health centre in the area.
He stated that investigations into the incident were ongoing.
The incident comes days after, 10 police officers were killed when the vehicle they were travelling in ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) while conducting a patrol along the Damajale-Harehare Road near the Kenya-Somalia border.
