Security personnel on the Kenya-Somalia border have all along taken their Somalia counterparts to be colleagues in the fight against crime in general.
Their main target has been terrorism and smuggling of goods through the main border.
The personnel usually share intelligence on several issues, which has enabled the region to be relatively safe.
Officials say the sharing of information has enhanced the fight against general crime on the main border. This is the area where al-Shabaab militants thrive.
They are fighting security agencies in both Somalia and Kenya.
Hardly a day passes before the agencies encounter the gang’s attempts in both countries.
Despite the ongoing operations in the areas, the gang manages to infiltrate some areas and launch attacks.
These have left dozens of security agents dead and others injured.
This has not deterred efforts by the agents in the area to continue pursuing the gangs in general, said the North Eastern regional police commander Papito Ranka.
He said they have enhanced cooperation with various agencies from the neighbouring countries to ensure security for all.
An incident that happened on Wednesday in Mandera at the main border has left many local security agencies thinking hard.
“These are enemies within. How can they set up bombs targeting our officers?” said one officer on the ground who revealed Kenya had protested to Somalia over the incident.
Another official termed the incident the work of rogue officers who should be isolated and punished. In the incident, at least two members of Kenya’s National Police Reserve were killed in an explosion at the border point in Mandera.
Two others were injured in the explosion, which happened at the Kenya-Somalia border at Point Four’s Kulun area at about 6 pm on Wednesday, January 14.
The scene borders the troubled Bullahawa of Somalia. Police said the NPR officers were on duty at the scene when the explosion went off.
It is believed the explosion was set up by members of the Somalia National Army who are operating in the area out of retaliation for a similar incident where their members were killed last year, officials said.
SNA has been fighting militias in the area over control of the town. They are in charge of the border.
“This was betrayal and may change many things,” another officer aware of the incident said.
On Wednesday, police said the NPR were on duty at the site when the Improvised Explosive Device went off.
It killed NPR corporal Mohamed Issack and constable NPR Abdirashid Shabbellow.
Two others were injured and rushed to the hospital in critical condition, police said.
A team of experts who visited the scene said the IED was planted at the place where the NPR operates and that a destroyed mobile phone was recovered at the scene.
It had a Somalia simcard and is being analysed for more information.
A second bomb was later detonated by experts who visited the scene.
The scene was cleared and the bodies subjected to an autopsy before they were released to the families for burial, police said.
Police most of the time use NPRs to patrol the area near the border. They are trained before being armed and deployed.
The area has been experiencing instability from infighting between the Somalia security agencies and al Shabaab terror group.
Gunmen believed to be al-Shabaab militants shot into a police camp in Elram, Kotulo, Mandera County, in what many believed to be a probing mission.
This is the latest such incident to happen in the area in recent months amid fears the terror group plans to overrun a police camp for weapons and send a message.
On Wednesday, January 14, at night, the militia fired a Rocket-Propelled Grenade into the Elram Anti-Stock-Theft Unit.
It exploded near the camp's defence and was followed by a rapid fire from PKM and AK47 rifles, police said.
The team present fired back and repulsed the gang, which escaped. No injuries were reported.
Police said they believe the gang is roaming the area with a mission to strike at a security installation.
The operations teams have since been put on alert and told to be ready for a fight with the gangs.
Clearing teams collected dozens of spent cartridges from the scene. The gangs have in the past two weeks stolen a police car after shooting and seriously wounded a police driver.
Many believe some of these incidents happen with the help of locals and some insiders.
Somalia has not had an effective central government since the 1991 overthrow of President Siad Barre's military regime, which ushered in more than two decades of anarchy and conflict in a country deeply divided along clan lines.
Kenya launched Operation Linda Nchi on October 14, 2011, after gunmen seized tourists at the Coast, which the Government saw as a threat to the country's sovereignty, as it targeted the nation's economic lifeline, which is tourism.
The latest IGAD analysis of the threat of terrorism in the Horn of Africa region, Kenya faced heightened vulnerability to cross-border spillovers from neighbouring conflict zones between July and September, a challenge now extending to the first quarter of the year.
There are also fears of more attacks in the coming days.
This has forced agencies in the area to always change their operational tactics for their general safety. Kenya has been making efforts to address the menace in the border areas.
These include arming the personnel on the ground with more sophisticated equipment and relying on technology in many operations.
They have managed to contain the terrorists to the border region for some time.
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