Mandera blast: Families want victims airlifted to Nairobi

Drama ensued outside Mandera Referral Hospital after residents obstructed ambulances transporting police officers injured in the Monday explosion in Mandera town.

Four people among them three police officers died and 11 others injured in a suspected terror attack on a small hotel located near a police station.

The blast in the town of Mandera, which is on the border with Somalia, was caused by an improvised explosive device that had been planted at the hotel and was detonated as a crowd of people sat down to eat breakfast, police said.

Families of the blast victims hospitalized decried alleged discrimination claiming that only two police officers were airlifted to Nairobi for specialised medical care.

Ruth Mumbe, speaking on behalf of one of the affected families, disclosed that the injuries sustained by those left behind are more severe than those of the police officers who were evacuated to the capital.

The families are appealing to the county government to intervene and make arrangements for the remaining victims to be moved to Kenyatta National Hospital.

They are urging the county commissioner and the local government to take action to ensure that all injured persons receive the necessary medical attention.

As of now, out of the eleven injured individuals from the attack, only two police officers have been airlifted to Nairobi, while the rest are still undergoing treatment at Mandera County Referral Hospital.

The latest attack followed another one on Sunday in coastal Lamu County, where two police reservists were killed.