This archive report was first published on 24 October 2019.
On October 24, 2019, a driver's life-saving decision to defy Al Shabaab militants saved eight construction workers from a possible attack.
The incident occurred as the driver was transporting the workers from Borhole 11 to Elwak in a matatu.
According to eyewitnesses, the driver was ordered to stop by 10 armed men suspected to be Al Shabaab militants, but he ignored their orders and sped away.
The assailants sprayed the matatu with bullets in an attempt to stop it, but the driver managed to escape the 4pm assault without injury to his passengers.
“The driver who was transporting eight non-local construction workers from Borhole 11 to Elwak was stopped by about 10 armed men suspected to be Al Shabaab militants. But the driver ignored the orders and sped off. The militants fired at the vehicle in order to stop it, but no one was injured,” the police said in a report.
The incident comes just a week after 11 police officers were killed in an IED attack in the area, which borders Somalia and has seen an increase in police deployments to the North Eastern region.
