{UAH} Allan/Edmund/Gook/Pojim: Queries over Ruto’s home attack persist

The killing of a well-known but unnamed hawker in Deputy President William Ruto's Sugoi rural home yesterday or on Saturday night has raised more questions than answers.

The machete-wielding lone intruder is said to have commandeered the Deputy President's residential palace and played cat-and-mouse games with a highly sophisticated, Israeli-trained Recce Squad for over 18 hours.

The elite squad is the same that killed al Shaabab fighters in a record nine minutes after the gunmen stormed Garrissa University college and massacred 150 students.

Yesterday Inspector General Joseph Boinnet denied that the attack was stage-managed as he defended the time the security force took to deal with the attacker.

"It was not stage-managed. The reason the operation took many hours is because we had to handle things clearly," Boinnet said at a press conference in Nairobi on Sunday.

Boinnet said the attacker killed a nightshift GSU officer in a room that was under construction near the gate.

Another officer who was attacked with a machete and his gun seized by the intruder is nursing injuries in hospital, but in a stable condition.

Kenyans have questioned why special-forces officers dilly-dallied in ending the siege, after details emerged that the DP's luxury home was attacked by a machete-wielding lone intruder.

The attacker, who Boinnet said is yet to be named, was finally shot dead by Recce Squad officers on Sunday morning after long hours of fierce gun battles.

The man has been identified as a hawker of Somali origin who frequented the DP's home to sell wares to workers, including security officers.

A relative of the intruder was arrested by police. The man owns a shop at Jua Kali Market, which was where they operated with the intruder.

The man was attacked and beaten up by members of the public at Jua Kali Market, which is about 20km from the DP's home. He was accused of allegedly being an associate of the intruder. "We are holding him for investigations," said Eldoret West OCPD Samwel Mutunga.

The intruder had shot dead a GSU officer whom he held hostage in a house near the main gate inside the compound. The intruder had changed his clothes to wear those belonging to the dead officer.

Investigations by the Star revealed that that the man could have been killed by 9pm on Saturday. Police sources said that the elite squad that had been airlifted from Kinamba, Laikipia, was back to its base by 9.30pm, having neutralised the threat at the DP's home.

Questions are now being asked about what could have been happening the whole night at the DP's home with gunfire being heard as late as 6am yesterday.

One senior police officer told the Star that the officers deployed to deal with the attacker "took their time" to neutralise the threat as they wanted to minimise casualties and destruction in the DP's rural home.

"We used our brains, and deception, and finally killed him," said a senior officer.

At the time the hawker arrived at the Sugoi home only two GSU officers were on duty.

DP Ruto, like former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, is entitled to 18 security guards drawn from the GSU, AP and Prisons Department.

Seven GSU officers have been deployed to guard his homes, two police drivers drawn from the Prisons Department and nine APs. He also has Recce officers as bodyguards.

Queries over Ruto's home attack persist | The Star, Kenya
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2017/07/31/queries-over-rutos-home-attack-persist_c1607018

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