Nairobi, Kenya, Mar 16- Former Education Permanent Secretary James Ole Kiyiapi’s brother is among the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers who were killed on Monday when a vehicle they were traveling in ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Somalia’s Gedo region.
Unconfirmed reports stated that at least 7 KDF officers lost their lives during the Monday afternoon incident and unknown number injured.
Reports indicate that the KDF officers were on their way into Somalia from Kenya where they had crossed to draw water when the incident blamed on the Somalia-based jihadist group Al-Shabaab happened.
Ole Kiyiapi said Tuesday in a statement posted in his Twitter account that details of their deaths are yet to be made public despite fighting for the country.
“I am in shock and in mourning. My young Brother Johnson Olemoi Kiyiapi was among other soldiers killed in Somalia yesterday, through an improvised explosive device. They paid the ultimate price and NO news item on who they are – they die incognito,” Ole Kiyiapi tweeted.
The Department of Defence is yet to make an official statement on the matter.
Despite the progress made in fighting Al-Shabaab, the terror outfit has continued to devise new ways to achieve maximum casualties and have now shifted their tactics to the use of IEDs in their operations among other ways.
Kenyan troops have suffered the brunt of attacks from the Al-Shabaab militants who have continued to target them since they launched a military offensive against the Al-Qaeda linked militant group in 2011 in an exercise dubbed “operation Linda Nchi”.
Some of the notable incidences include the attack at an African Union Mission in Somalia AMISOM base in El Adde which left hundreds of officers dead.
The total number of casualties was never made public.
