Kenya reshuffles police officers to boost security in border region

Kenyan authorities on Wednesday reshuffled top criminal investigation officers (CID) commanders in northeast region to help enhance security following increased terror attacks along the borders.

Director of CID Ndegwa Muhoro said the changes, which involve over 50 CID commanders, were aimed at enhancing crime management in the affected areas.

Under the changes, Muhoro moved former head of Anti-Terror Police Unit Boniface Mwaniki to Garissa County while Said Baruk will be in charge of Mandera County and Keri Nyawida will take over in Wajir County -- all in northeastern region.

Analysts said moving Mwaniki to Garissa, which borders Somalia, is a strategy to address terror threats that have been on the rise in the region at large.

Mwaniki is a celebrated anti-terror officer, having worked at the office up to for five years when he was sent to the National Defense College in Karen for administration training.

The northeastern region has been hit by a series of terror incidents since Kenyan troops crossed to Somalia to hunt for Al- Shabaab militants in 2011.

Garissa town in northern Kenya has been the site of increasing grenade and gun attacks targeting both the Kenyan security forces and civilians.

The latest reshuffle is part of changes that have been implemented since April when Al-Shabaab terrorists stormed Garissa University College and killed 148 people, most of them students.

Meanwhile, the government will deploy security officers on foot to track down Al-Shabaab militants allegedly marauding villages in north-eastern region bordering Somalia.

The Northeastern Regional Commissioner Mohamud Saleh said Wednesday that the government is aware of the changing tact by the militants who have invaded villages along the border where they are allegedly spreading their doctrine. Endi