GARISSA—Two Kenyan police officers abducted during the May Yumbis ambush have been rescued Thursday during a security raid in Somalia. Their abductors are suspected to be Al Shabab members.
Inspector General of police Joseph Boinett said the two officers, suspected to have been abducted by a group of armed men who ambushed a contingent of police officers as they responded to a distress call in Yumbis village late May, have been rescued by the Kenyan army.
The two officers—Fred Chirchir and Joseph Wambugu—were abducted in the ambush that left at least one police officer dead and two others injured.
After the ambush, the militants torched four police patrol vehicles and are suspected to have crossed over to Somalia.
Days prior to the attack, it was reported that a group of suspected Al Shabab members raided the village and offered sermons slamming the government over the presence of its troops in Somalia. The Kenyan Defense Forces have crossed into Somalia on 16 October 2011 after series of attacks and abductions carried out by the Somalia-based militant group Al Shabab.
Since then, Al Shabab has launched deadly attacks in Kenya with the latest being the Garissa University attack which left at least 148, mostly students, dead in dawn attack.
The news of the rescue of two police officers from Somalia sharply differed from what the Inspector General of police, Joseph Boinett told the country after the attack. Speaking during a press conference to update the nation on the attack, he said that only four officers were injured in the ambush and that everyone was accounted for.
Three days after the attack, an amateur picture surfaced on social media posted by a enior police officer in the area, which showing a senior police officer flogging and stepping on a group of youths in the village whom he accused of being sympahysers. The photo, which was widely circulated online, triggered angry reaction from Kenyans who called on police boss Boinett to relieve the officer of his duties.
Mr. Boinett assured that he has ordered an investigation in to the matter
