An American media house has published a scathing report that paints a grim capability of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) personnel stationed at Manda Bay during the January 5 al-Shabaab attack.
Three Americans including two military contractors and US Army specialist Henry Mayfield were killed during the attack executed by al-Shabaab militants.
The report published by New York Times claims it is based on “interviews with a dozen American military officials or other people who have been briefed on the attack.”
The viral article paints a picture of cowardly KDF soldiers who failed in their sentry duty to keep the camp safe from intruders.
“..Many of the local Kenyan forces, assigned to defend the base, hid in the grass while other American troops and support staff were corralled into tents, with little protection, to wait out the battle.”
The report says KDF soldiers do the sentry duties in most days due to their larger number as compared to the American forces who number around 200.
What’s more, the report paints a picture of an inept force which “frustrated the American officials.”
“The performance of the Kenyan security forces during and after the battle frustrated American officials,” says the report.
“At one point, the Kenyans announced that they had captured six of the attackers, but they all turned out to be bystanders and were released.”
The report says it took the intervention of American soldiers stationed at Camp Simba-about a mile away from Manda Bay – together with a group of KDF rangers to pursue and neutralise a number of the attackers.
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