Eight suspected al Shabaab operatives were arrested in Mandera on Tuesday evening and are being held in El Wak for interrogation.

 They were arrested between Kotulo and Lafey in an ongoing police operation, said Northeastern regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh.

Saleh told the Star on phone the suspects were in the country illegally and were arrested at their hideouts in the operation that followed attacks along Mandera-Wajir road.

"The heavy operation is yielding fruits. We strongly believe these individuals have been behind attacks that have occurred along the road,” he said

Saleh said some of the suspects had confessed to being involved in some of the attacks.

"They have been very cooperative; they took us to the hideout they retreated to after carrying out attacks. Some of them are planners and others ringleaders,” he said.

The operation will go on for the next two weeks, the police boss said, adding they made changes after the militiamen changed their strategy.

"We changed tack to confront them head on. We will never allow them to have a field day carrying out attacks on Kenyan soil," he said.

On December 21, two people were killed at Dabacity between Kotulo and Elwak when militiamen attacked a bus.

Six days later, two police officers were killed and another injured when al Shabaab gunmen ambushed them along Lafey-Elwak road.

Around the same time and place, an attacker was killed when an improvised explosive device he was planting went off.