Relatives at Chiromo mortuary to identify bodies of their kin after a past attack. Kenya has suffered numerous Al Shabaab attacks. Photo/FILE.
The bodies were identified by their next of kin at the Chiromo Mortuary on Friday, a day after they were airlifted to Nairobi.
Head of the Disaster Management Unit Pius Masai said the bodies will now be released to their families for burial arrangements once postmortems are completed.
Relatives of the deceased who spoke to journalists outside Chiromo Mortuary have urged the government to intensify security in the region.
“Security should be beefed up in these areas like Mandera,” Enock Maina who lost a brother said, “We also urge the Government to also support the families that have been left because they were our bread winners.”
He said his brother was the one paying for his fees at the Multi-Media University, where he is pursuing journalism.
“Where will I get the money to pay for my fees. It’s like my dream to become a journalists has been shattered,” Maina wondered.
It is more disturbing to Kenyans and the relatives after it emerged that police had prior intelligence of the Mandera Al Shabaab attack that led to killings of six people.
This raises questions on how the assailants then managed to launch the attack at a residential plot near Bulla Public Works.
Government Spokesman Eric Kiraithe on Thursday made the revelation on the intelligence received said police did not know the exact location targeted because the information received was general on an impending attack targeting government or civilian areas.
“There was intelligence about intention to attack Government and civilian areas in Mandera but there was no accurate specific target on this particular attack but it was on the account of intelligence provided that the services were able to respond as soon as they did,” he said.
He said five people were instantly killed during the 2.30am attack, while another person died while receiving treatment at the hospital within the area.
The attack occurred at a village near Bulla Public Works that had a total of 33 non-locals, in what appears to be a replica of past attacks within the region targeting non-Muslims.
The town borders the porous Kenya-Somalia border, often used by the terrorists to launch offensive attacks on Kenyans.
Similar attacks were launched in the past two years, leaving more than 60 people killed in separate incidents.
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