The incident occurred during an operation in which officers were chasing a suspect who had escaped with suspicious drugs from the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) to the health center.
Upon reaching the medical facility, the suspect promptly entered a room and secured the door from the inside. Efforts by the police officers to enter the room were unsuccessful.
During the conflict, a 45-year-old woman emerged and splashed the officers with a substance believed to be acid. Disturbed by the incident, members of the public promptly informed officers from the Ngara Police Station, who hastily arrived at the scene.
The officers discovered their colleagues on the ground with injuries. Two male officers suffered burns on their face, hands, and legs, while a female officer experienced burns on her face, hands, and chest.
Following the incident, the officers were quickly transported to Nairobi West Hospital, where they were treated and later discharged in stable condition.
Meanwhile, police initiated an investigation that led to the arrest of five suspects and the recovery of five liters of suspected sulfuric acid along with various drugs, which were secured as evidence.
The Ngara incident occurs amid a rise in attacks on police by criminal gangs, particularly in the suburbs of Nairobi where such gangs operate illicit businesses. In a similar incident four months ago in Murang’a County, a police officer was assaulted and injured by a group of unruly youths.
The officer was part of a contingent that had just finished a recruitment exercise in the Kenol area of Thika, Kiambu County. A witness reported that the officer was injured when a group of youths started throwing stones at a police car transporting the officers from the recruitment drive.
The witness recounted that the mob shattered the vehicle’s windscreen before throwing additional stones onto the seat where the officer had been sitting.
Shortly after the assault on the officers, the suspects, estimated to be around ten in number, fled the scene. The injured officer was quickly taken to a medical center in Thika for treatment and was subsequently discharged.
The other police officers in the same vehicle suffered soft tissue injuries but received first aid at the scene before transporting their colleague to the hospital.
