Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said the suspects were shot dead in Malindi at dawn/FILE
They include Suleiman Mohammed Awadh alias Abdalla Salim Marumu whose photograph was circulated by police last month and a bounty placed on his head.
According to Malindi Police Chief Matawa Muchangi, two other suspects escaped with gunshot wounds in the incident.
“We managed through the shootout to fatally injure four people among them Awadh who it seems was the one who paid for the house where they were staying,” Muchangi stated.
Muchangi revealed that they recovered various materials including what appeared to be maps of several buildings and installations in Malindi.
They also recovered explosives materials, arms and several mobile phones.
“I would like to thank the public for giving us the information which helped us in this whole operation. We got the report and immediately acted on it. About 2am, we went to the house and when we knocked on the door, a grenade was thrown at us,” he said. “Fortunately it did not detonate and we were able to be successful during the operation.”
Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet explained officers had been hunting the four over a series of attacks and plans to cause more raids in various parts of the country.
“The four were killed during a shootout with officers,” Boinnet said on telephone adding, “firearms, mobile phones and other high explosive materials were recovered.”
Capital FM News spoke to some of Malindi residents who were woken up by gunshots during the fire fight.
“What happened here last night has really shocked us and we are grateful that the police acted in good time, otherwise we may have been affected adversely,” one woman who witnessed the incident stated.
“I heard a loud explosion like a tyre burst. Shortly after that, I heard some gunshots and took off. Later on when I came back, I found a woman who told me that four Al Shabaab operatives had been gunned down,” another man stated.
Authorities have lately intensified the war against terror in the country since the attack on an AMISOM camp in Somalia where an unknown number of Kenyan soldiers were killed.
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