Six Family Members Killed While Heading to Religious Function in Mandera

A single gunman ambushed a vehicle carrying a family to a Quran recitation in Arabia town on Saturday, killing six and wounding three others, an event police described as terror.

Mandera County Police Commander Robinson Ndiwa said attackers specifically targeted civilians on their way to the function.

“We had a reported incident of an ambush on a private vehicle ferrying a family to Arabia town for a religious function. Survivors told us that they were shot at by a lone gunman who emerged from the bushes,” Mr. Ndiwa said.

Of the six killed, five were men and one woman, and they had hired the vehicle in Mandera town to attend the religious event following a recent funeral in their own family.

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Terror attack in Mandera

The lone gunman targeted the car along the Mandera-Arabia Road, forcing it to careen off the highway and six of the seven occupants were killed instantly.

Three survivors were airlifted by security forces to Mandera County Referral Hospital.

“We are treating this as a terror incident as we start investigations and the security situation along that road has been calm and this is an isolated incident,” Mr. Ndiwa said.

However, the incident goes against a previously established pattern in Mandera, and a report released Friday by the Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies (CHRIPS) stated that “in most cases in Mandera, security personnel were the primary targets of these attacks.” The report continued: “Assaults on police camps, military convoys, and government officials indicate a pattern of targeting state security infrastructure and personnel.”

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Incidence of Terror Attacks in Mandera County and Other Northern Regions of Kenya

Mandera, according to CHRIPS, was Kenya’s worst-hit county in 2025 with 32 terror attacks, followed by Garissa with 23, Lamu with 13, and Wajir with four.

Across the nation, terror claimed at least 50 lives in 2025. 2024 had seen 107 people killed in such attacks.

The report pinpointed Iresuki village, areas around the Takaba-Wargadud road, Mandera East and Mandera South sub-counties as the worst affected by terror.

“This road cannot remain a death trap,” declared Mandera East MP Omar Maalim. “Government must deploy armed escorts and secure civilians.”

The perpetrators have not been identified and no group claimed responsibility. Spent cartridges were recovered by police, who are now conducting a hunt along the Somali border.

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Arabia road after Saturday’s ambush killed six. CHRIPS named Mandera Kenya’s top terror hotspot with 32 incidents in 2025.PHOTO/File