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Key city installations now under 24-hour police watch


Forty two key installations in the city have been placed under heavy security after intelligence reports indicated they could be attacked by terrorists.

They include State House, several buildings housing government ministries and departments, five star hotels, shopping malls, and public places.

Hundreds of police officers drawn from the General Service Unit, regular police, anti-terrorism police unit, the Criminal Investigation Department and the Administration Police will guard the installations on a 24-hour basis.

The officers were deployed on Monday after a top security officials’ meeting at the Kenya School of Government. 

Huge masses

The buildings include Harambee House, KNH, Times Tower, Nyayo House, KICC, Vigilance House, the Railways Station, Parliament Buildings and Stima Plaza.

“We are aware that the terrorists usually target huge masses. We have already studied their most preferred tactics and we are ready to take precautions,” Nairobi Regional County Commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu said on Tuesday. 

Top police officers who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said KNH has been placed under a 24-hour security cordon because it would be targeted by terrorists to cause maximum impact.

“Our intelligence tells us that they plan to launch an attack in the city and as the injured and the dead are rushed to KNH, they attack it to cause maximum impact,” said the officer.

Over the past 50 days, the Rapid Results Initiative on Security has been going on, with the officers drawn from the Administration Police, the Regular Police, General Service Unit and the Flying squad have been conducting an operation to smoke out all criminals. 

“Among those that we have targeted include terror gangs. We hope that by the end of the operation we’ll have made remarkable steps in eradicating armed criminals and terrorists who mostly use explosives to kill masses,” he said.