{"id":838880,"date":"2026-11-11T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838880"},"modified":"2026-11-11T06:51:05","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T11:51:05","slug":"gunmen-kill-eight-road-workers-and-police-reservists-in-a-mandera-ambush-near-the-somalia-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838880","title":{"rendered":"Gunmen kill eight road workers and police reservists in a Mandera ambush near the Somalia border"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/figure>\n

A bullet riddled pickup that accounts on X said was the vehicle attacked on the Mandera to Lafey road in Mandera County, Kenya, on November 10, 2026. Mereja Media could not independently confirm where the photo was taken. Credit: photo via Insecurity KE on X.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying road construction workers and their police escort in Kenya’s Mandera County on Tuesday morning, killing all eight people on board, the county governor said.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Adan Khalif, the governor of Mandera, said the attack targeted a security vehicle escorting workers on the Mandera, Arabia and Lafey road project in the Hagarsu area. The dead were five road construction workers, two members of the Kenya Police Reserve and the driver, he said in a statement on X.<\/p>\n

“It is particularly painful that individuals dedicated to advancing infrastructure and development in our county have lost their lives in such tragic circumstances,” the governor wrote. He called on security agencies to urgently investigate and bring those responsible to justice, and said the people of Mandera deserve an environment where development can go ahead “without fear or intimidation.”<\/p>\n

Robinson Ndiwa, the county police commander, confirmed the ambush to NTV Kenya, which first reported seven dead and blamed suspected Al Shabaab militants. Other Kenyan accounts that follow security in the north, including Insecurity KE, said the five workers killed were engineers. The names of the victims and of the company building the road had not been made public on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, police identified the eight people killed, The Star and Sifa FM reported. They named two Kenya Police Reservists, Mohamed Ibrahim Hussein, a sergeant from Koromei, and Abdifatah Abdile Ibrahim, from Bulla Barwaqo; the driver, Hassan Hussein Kussow, from Lafey; and five road workers, John Ng’ang’a Munene, Peter Musili Kiondo and Stephen Munene Ng’ang’a, all from Kinangop, Peter Kahio Kariuki, from Murang’a, and Stephen Kanyi Macharia, also from Kinangop. The company building the road has still not been named. Police told The Star and Sifa FM that the attackers also took two AK-47 rifles belonging to the slain reservists, loaded with 60 and 90 rounds of ammunition. Pius Gitari, Mandera’s county criminal investigation officer, told the Daily Nation he suspected the attack may have been meant to provoke local communities into clan clashes. No one has claimed responsibility.<\/p>\n

Al Shabaab, the Somali militant group linked to Al Qaeda, has carried out many attacks in Mandera, Wajir, Garissa and Lamu counties, often with roadside bombs or ambushes on police and on vehicles carrying workers. Mandera sits in the far northeast of Kenya, where its borders meet those of Somalia and Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

Photos shared on X showed a white pickup with its windows shot out and bullet holes along its doors, standing on a dirt track. Mereja Media could not confirm when or where the photos were taken.<\/p>\n

The attack adds to pressure on Kenya’s security forces along a northern frontier that is also coping with the fallout of fighting across the Ethiopian border. In Marsabit County, west of Mandera, tens of thousands of people have arrived from Ethiopia’s Moyale, and Britain has warned against travel to Moyale<\/a> after stray bullets from the fighting killed and wounded residents on the Kenyan side.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n