NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 16 – A police officer was shot dead and his colleague seriously wounded on Wednesday night.
The officer attached to the Flying Squad department was gunned down in what police described as one of the “most daring attacks”.
The officers are said to have been attacked as they walked to their houses on Nairobi’s Desai road.
“They were ambushed as they entered their houses. They did not even have time to reach for their guns,” Head of the Special Crime Prevention Unit (SCPU) Mr Richard Katola said.
He said one of the officers was robbed of his pistol.
The wounded officer was admitted to the Nairobi Hospital with serious gun shot wounds, he added. The gun men are said to have fled towards Forest Road.
Mr Katola told Capital News that no arrest had been made by Thursday, but detectives were pursuing leads.
“We cannot talk of arrests at this stage, but we are questioning several people. Our teams are also pursuing some people. I am sure we will get them,” he vowed.
Police Spokesman Erick Kiraithe said the commissioner was concerned at the violent attacks on law enforcement agencies.
“It is a serious issue, criminals are now targeting to kill police officers,” he said.
Last month, three CID officers were gunned down at a fuel station in Athi River and their AK47 rifles stolen.
The officers were on patrol when they drove into a fuel station, unaware a robbery was in progress.
They were all shot dead in their vehicle.
Mr Katola told Capital News that police have since shot and killed two of the gun men and arrested another but two are still at large.
Wednesday night’s killing of the two officers demonstrates just how the country’s insecurity levels have skyrocketed.
On Monday, Internal Security Minister Professor George Saitoti conceded that he was ‘equally concerned at the high number of carjacking and other armed crime’ and urged the police to eradicate it.
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