Kenyan security forces hunt for Al-Shabaab militants who attacked police camps

GARISSA, Kenya, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's elite security forces have intensified a manhunt for Al-Shabaab militants who attacked two police camps in northeastern parts of the country on Saturday.

North-eastern regional commissioner Mohamud Saleh said a contingent of security officers drawn from Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), rural border patrol unit and the regal police were in hot pursuit of the militants.

"They (militants) can run but they cannot hide. We will smoke them out of their hideout," Saleh told reporters.

He assured local residents that security agencies were "in control of the situation" and urged them to provide relevant information that will help nab the militants.

The militant who according to locals were numbering 100 razed two police stations before escaping with a police Land Cruiser. They also vandalized a Safaricom mast hence cutting of communication in the area.

The Al-Shabaab fighters had earlier been spotted in Boni forest, Taqsiley and Walkon areas in Ijara sub-county, Garissa county in northeastern Kenya.

They were accused of attempting to recruit local youth through radicalization.

Last week a man who was suspected by local resident to have fled the militia group had been arrested by the area chief in Kotile and handed over to anti-terror military officers based in Gamba in Tana delta.

Two youth from Ijara had also been taken away by the militants who accused them of spying on them.

The Al-Shabaab fighters are suspected to have fled Somalia after heavy onslaught by the Somali national army and African Union forces. Enditem