Lamu Mother Painfully Narrates How 17-Year-Old Son Was Killed By Al-Shabaab: "Walimchinja Mbele Yangu"

• Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has toured the restive Lamu county to assess the security situation
• A woman who attended the public baraza painfully narrated how her son was slaughtered by suspected al-Shabaab assailants
• She said the assailants burned down everything, forcing her to borrow clothes and seek refuge in a school

Lamu - A woman has painfully narrated how her 17-year-old son was killed by suspected al-Shabaab assailants.

The woman said her son was killed as she watched in their compound in a village in Lamu.

According to a video by Citizen TV, the 17-year-old boy was killed minutes after just leaving class at Bakanja High School.

"On June 24, my child was slaughtered before my eyes. The terrorists came and told me that we were the original al-Shabaab and we have come to kill. My 17-year-old son was from Bakaja High School. They told me even if he was a kid, we were killing him," the mother said.

The mother of the form three students said the terrorists burned everything, forcing her to borrow clothes.

A visit by Aden Duale

Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale was in the region accessing the security status in the region, where he underscored the importance of collaboration between the local community and the security organs in the fight against terrorism, saying it has yielded results in the past.

The Cabinet Secretary reiterated that it was high time the region reclaimed its former glory as a leading tourism destination among Kenya’s neighbouring countries and a key contributor to our country's economic growth.

“The Government has made a serious investment in the region, including the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor, which calls for concerted efforts from all of us to protect this critical investment, life and property of the locals. This area used to attract tourism in the past. Still, we’re going to upscale the security situation to ensure this critical sector contributes to the growth of our economy,” Duale said.

He reaffirmed that, as a significant component in the security infrastructure in the country, KDF remains steadfast in discharging its primary mandate of defending and protecting the Republic of Kenya against any external aggression.