State to use elders to negotiate release of five abducted chiefs

 
The government plan to use elders to negotiate for the release of five chiefs who were abducted on Monday from a town near the Kenya-Somalia border in Mandera.
This, they said, is the surest way of ensuring their release given they are in the hands of unknown people inside Somalia.
Officials said already elders had been identified ahead of their mission, which is seen as normal whenever such an incident occurs.
“Unless they are killed, which may not happen, we have to send elders to negotiate with their counterparts in Somalia for the release of the administrators,” said an official aware of the plans.
This came as operations were mounted in the area amid fears of more attacks.
The motive of the attack is yet to be known but officials blamed Somalia’s al Shabaab militants for the abduction.
Police and witnesses said the group was travelling in a car to Elwak when they were attacked and hijacked between Bamba Owla And Ires Suki.
They were to meet in the area to plan how to cover a planned visit by President William Ruto to the region from Tuesday.
The president’s visit will go on amid operations to stop any planned attacks.
Mandera South police commander Julius Njeru confirmed the attack and said the administrators were travelling from Wargadud to Elwak town for duty.
Ruto is expected to tour the northern region this week and this has prompted security operations.
He will among others hold a cabinet meeting in Garissa, officials said.
The president will also visit Isiolo, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir and Garissa Counties in the period.
A major operation was mounted after the incident in which the attackers who were waiting are said to have fled to Somalia.
Officials said an operation that was immediately launched after the abduction was slowed down after a security car ran into an Improvised Explosive Device set on the road.
The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border where the terrorists cross and attack locals and non-locals and mostly government officials.
Last year in December, a driver attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations was shot and killed by suspected al-Shabaab terrorists in an attack in Lafey, Mandera County.
An unknown number of gunmen later grabbed his four-wheel drive car and escaped with it.
Police said this was after they had dropped the body of the deceased from the car.
The deceased was attached to the local police command.
This is the latest such incident in the area amid operations by separate teams.
Security operations have thwarted dozens of planned attacks in the area and inland.
The area is under a multi-agency security operation and is near the Kenya-Somalia border.
The multi-agency operation seeks to flush out the militants.This has seen a significant reduction in such incidents.
The border areas of Mandera, Wajir, Lamu and Garissa too have faced similar attacks which have affected development at large.
The government says they have acquired more resources to enhance operations in the border area against the terrorists.