President Ruto’s national security advisor’s bodyguards kill gunman

On Saturday night, President William Ruto’s national security advisor’s bodyguards and former Defence Cabinet Secretary Dr Monica Juma’s police officers were attacked by a gunman on the Mwingi-Garissa Highway.

The officers were heading to Juma’s rural home when the gunman, believed to be from Somalia, attacked them in their Prado. He fired three rounds, but the officers returned fire, fatally injuring him. Police suspect that the gunman was a terrorist who had lost his way. He had been using a torch to flag down cars and was carrying a rifle with 23 bullets, two pairs of shoes, a sufuria with foodstuffs, and a knife.

Police also recovered a solar panel, scissors, a pen, a black bag pack containing 38 rounds of ammunition, seven notes of Somali currency, Sh2,800, two mobile phones, and one extended cartridge from the scene.

The gunman had earlier attacked a water bowser driver and tried to rob him, forcing him to drive through with a punctured tyre. The driver then spotted the police officers and tried to warn them of the impending danger, but the gunman accosted them first and held them at gunpoint.

One of the officers opened fire at close range as the gunman tried to escape the scene, killing him. Police said the gunman could be part of al Shabaab, who have been operating in the area and had strayed from Garissa to the region.

The body was taken to a local mortuary pending autopsy and further analysis. Senior officers from Mwingi visited the scene as part of the probe into the drama. The area has been experiencing terror-related attacks that have left dozens of people killed and others injured.