3 Police Officers Sustain Burns in Suspected Acid Attack

Three police officers on Monday, November 25, sustained critical injuries following a suspected acid attack by an alleged criminal gang at a Medical Centre in Ngara, Nairobi.

The incident took place during an operation where officers were pursuing a suspect who had fled with a suspicious drug from Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) to the health centre.

Upon arriving at the medical facility, the suspect quickly entered the room and locked the door from inside. Attempts by the police officers to gain entry into the room proved futile.

It was during the altercation that a 45-year-old woman came out and doused the officers with a chemical suspected to be acid. Agitated by the incident, members of the public quickly alerted officers from the Ngara Police Station who rushed to the scene.

The officers found their colleagues lying on the ground with injuries. Two male officers sustained burns on the face, hands and legs while a female officer sustained burns on the face, hands and chest.

Following the incident, the officers were rushed to Nairobi West Hospital where they were admitted and treated before they were later discharged in fair condition.

Meanwhile, police officers launched a probe during which five suspects were arrested and five litres of suspected sulphuric acid and assorted drugs were recovered and kept as an exhibit.

The Ngara incident comes amidst a surge in cases of police attacks by criminal gangs especially within the suburbs of Nairobi where criminal gangs control illicit businesses. In an analogous incident four months ago, in Murang’a County, a police officer was attacked and injured by a group of rowdy youths.

The officer was part of the contingent that had just completed a recruitment exercise in the Kenol area of Thika, Kiambu County. According to a witness, the officer was injured after the youths began pelting stones at a police car ferrying the officers from the recruitment drive.

While narrating the incident, the witness revealed that the mob smashed the vehicle’s windscreen before throwing more stones on the seat where the office had sat.

Moments after attacking the officers, the suspects, who were about ten in number, fled the scene. The injured officer was rushed to a medical centre in Thika where he received treatment before being discharged.

The rest of the police officers who were in the same vehicle sustained soft tissue injuries but underwent first aid on the scene before rushing their colleague to the hospital.