kenyan Defence Force KDF deployed at border after Ethiopian forces
kill Kenya police
MARSABIT: The Kenya Defence Force (KDF) has moved its armoured vehicles and tanks from the Odha Military Camp in Moyale to Sololo following an invasion by Ethiopian forces who killed three police officers.
MARSABIT: The Kenya Defence Force (KDF) has moved its armoured vehicles and tanks from the Odha Military Camp in Moyale to Sololo following an invasion by Ethiopian forces who killed three police officers.
The development last evening follows a fierce gun battle earlier in the
day between Kenya police and Ethiopian forces at Anona and parts of
Sololo Township in Kenyan territory. Marsabit County Police Commander
Bernard Kogo said three Kenyan security officers were killed but
declined to reveal the casualty on the Ethiopian side. "We lost three
officers at the border (Sololo) and I do not know what happened on their
(Ethiopian) side," said Mr Kogo.
On
Thursday, a senior provincial administrator identified a senior chief
who was gunned down by allegedly rebels from the Oromo Liberation Front
(OLF). Ethiopia is fighting the rag-tag OLF rebels in Ethiopia and parts
of Marsabit County that it claims hosts their rivals. OLF is opposed to
Ethiopia's ruling regime and claims it has marginalised the majority of
Oromia-speaking people who include the Borana, also found in Kenya. At
dawn Friday, Ethiopian forces in full military attire invaded villages
in Sololo District where locals led by area MP Roba Duba said at least
24 Kenyans were abducted. "Eleven people were rounded up and taken away
by Ethiopian soldiers. Before that they beat up everyone in their sight
with gun butts, kicks and blows,’’ said Adan Jirma, a resident of Sololo
South.
See also: Ethiopian
soldiers cross to Kenya, kill three policemen, five missing At around
midday Friday, Ethiopians soldiers made a second invasion in the two
centres while backed by armoured vehicles. This prompted administration
and regular police, backed by Kenya police reservists, to engage the
foreign army in a shootout. As the gun battle between the two sides
raged up to about 4pm Friday, KDF’s army multi-unit detachment from Odha
in Moyale, about 100km away, rolled its armoured cars and tanks that
were deployed at the border, stretching a distance of about 15km. Sololo
OCPD Benjamin Mwanzia said the military had been deployed to guard
against further incursion but declined to give details.
National Hospital Insurance Fund Chairman Mohamud Ali called on the
Kenya Government to protest what he called frequent invasion by
Ethiopian forces into Kenyan territory. "We are a sovereign state and
this (invasion) is bad because Ethiopia is considered a friendly
neighbour. It is high time our government sends a strong signal to
them," said Ali. Mid this year, Ethiopian forces invaded Kenyan
territory on three occasions — at Illeret, Sololo and Moyale
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