At least 11 al-Shabaab militants were killed during an intelligence-led operation near the Kenya-Somalia border on Sunday, Kenyan police claimed on Monday.
According to police’s statement, the operation was carried out by the Kenya’s elite Special Operations Group with aerial support after intelligence indicated that about 30 suspected militants of the Somali sect had gathered at a makeshift camp in Mandera County.
They were planning to attack villages along the border, the Kenyan police said, adding that seven of the militants were seriously wounded while the remaining fighters fled across the border into Sornalia.
Three PKM machine guns, about 409 rounds of ammunition and several documents believed to belong to the militants were captured.
Among the documents was what authorities described as receipts for mandatory religious taxes allegedly collected by the militant group in areas under its control.
Kenyan police said the records could provide valuable intelligence into how al-Shaboab finances its operations and administers areas under its control through taxation and collections from checkpoints.
The operation was aimed at disrupting the planned attack before it could be carried out and preventing another cross-border assault in Kenya’s northeastern region, police said.
The raid is part of an intensified campaign by Kenyan security agencies targeting militant networks operating along the porous Kenya-Somalia border, where authorities have stepped up intelligence-led operations to prevent attacks.
al-Shabaab whose militants have a history of deadly attacks inside Kenya, have not commented.
MG/as/APA