- According to the CS, some 213 Kenyans died in the 1998 attack.
- 12 US nationals also perished while 4,500 sustained serious injuries.
Image: MINA
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has laid bare the heavy price the country has paid on terror related attacks since the bloody attack of the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998.
Kindiki disclosed that Kenya has lost more than 500 lives since the 1998 attack.
According to the CS, some 213 Kenyans died in the 1998 attack.
12 US nationals also perished while 4,500 sustained serious injuries.
In 2013, 67 people lost their lives in the Westgate Mall attack in which al Shabaab militants claimed responsibility.
Two year later, the militants returned to Garissa University and butchered 148 people.
In 2019, they attacked Dusit and left some 21 innocent Kenyans dead.
Some five attackers were killed by security officers during the Dusit attack.
Kindiki said the rest of the casualties are a collection of various deaths, especially to Kenya Defence Forces and police officers.
The officers have mainly lost their lives through Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks especially in Northern Kenya and Lamu areas.
“Investigations reveal that the US Embassy bombing in Nairobi was perpetrated by Al Qaeda under the directives of Arun Fazul who has never been arrested,” Kindiki said.
The CS announced a comprehensive compensation plan for families of police officers who lose their lives in the line of duty.
The families, he said, are being paid a one-off payment equivalent to eight years of service and funeral expenses.
Responding to question time at Senate, Kindiki said police officers who have served in one station for more than three years will be moved in a new strategy to curb insecurity.
“We have given a policy directive that all police officers across the country who have stayed in one station for more than three years should be transferred immediately,” Kindiki said.
Appearing before the Senate plenary on Wednesday, he said officers who will resist the transfer will have their salaries stopped, saying the new directive is now mandatory.
Police officers in sensitive operations would be moved after one year, he added.
He said 58 police officers have lost their lives in dangerous operations across the country in the past years.
Kindiki said the government is working towards establishing a benevolent fund for the families of officers who die while on duty by the end of the year, with families of fallen heroes being able to access scholarships and other benefits that will enable their lives to go on normally.
He said the government was considering recruiting National Police Reservists as full-time police officers.
“We are seriously considering the proposal to have some of them employed as police officers since they have played a role in security operations in their respective areas,” Kindiki said.
He told the Senate that 460 National Police Reservists Officers have been recruited, trained and deployed in Samburu county since November last year.
Some 205 officers have been recruited in West Pokot, in Baringo they have recruited 200 officers while in Elgeyo Marakwet they have recruited 153 officers.
The Cabinet Secretary told the Senate that in Turkana county, they have recruited and trained 140 police reservists with 500 others waiting for vetting.
Kindiki said already, the government had established the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit and the National Counter-Terrorism Centre to deal with research and radicalisation of the youth to deter them from joining the Somali-based al Shabaab militants.
He said they will be meeting leaders from Kericho and Kisumu counties in the next two weeks to seek a lasting solution to the recurring Sondu border conflict that has led to the loss of lives and property in the recent weeks.