Kenya’s elite Special Operations Group (SOG) has successfully thwarted an Al-Shabaab plot to detonate improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Garissa County. According to security reports, the militants were assembling the explosives when officers, acting on intelligence from local residents, swiftly launched an operation in the Welmerer-Yumbis area.
Upon arrival, the SOG officers engaged the suspects in a brief but intense firefight, recovering several assembled IEDs that had already been planted along the busy route. The explosives were intended to target civilians and security personnel frequently using the Welmerer-Yumbis road.
“Our Elite Special Operations Group (SOG) stopped eight Al-Shabaab terrorists who were attempting to set up Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at the Welmerer-Yumbis area in Garissa,” read a statement from the Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) unit. “The brave officers engaged the terrorists and recovered the IEDs, which were to be used to attack our mothers, children, and security officers.”
Security analysts have praised the swift action by the SOG, noting that it likely prevented a deadly attack in a region that has witnessed a resurgence of militant activity in recent months.
In July, three Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers were killed and several others injured when their vehicle struck an IED along the Sakuri-Kiunga Main Supply Route. A month earlier, four Al-Shabaab militants were neutralised in Garissa after being tracked by drones, with officers recovering rifles, a PKM machine gun, and communication radios.
In a separate August operation, KDF troops killed at least five militants in Boni Forest, Lamu County, during an intelligence-led patrol.
Security agencies continue to urge locals to share timely intelligence to help disrupt terrorist plots and protect communities in northern Kenya.
