An operation was conducted by a multi-agency team in Kenya to neutralize 10 members of the Islamist group al-Shabab and recover assault weapons, according to a statement given to Reuters.
Spokespeople for al-Shabab were not available for comment. For years, al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, has been making incursions into Kenya to pressure the country into withdrawing its troops from the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force helping Somalia’s central government fight the group.
The group has targeted security forces, schools, vehicles, towns and telecommunications infrastructure in eastern Kenya, but the frequency and intensity of their attacks have decreased in recent years, including a 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.
Al-Shabab has been working for over a decade to overthrow the Somali government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic law. Recently, the group killed four workers from Kenya’s highway authority when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Garissa county, and on Tuesday, one person died when a convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in the same region, police reported.
Why is al-Shabab in Kenya?
Although al-Shabab primarily operates in Somalia, they began operating in Kenya in 2006, when the group first emerged as a significant threat to the Somali government. However, the group’s attacks in Kenya began to increase in frequency and intensity after Kenyan troops were deployed to Somalia in 2011 as part of the African Union-mandated peacekeeping force. Today, there are almost 3,500 peacekeepers in Somalia from the KDF. Since then, Al-Shabaab has targeted security forces, schools, vehicles, towns and telecommunications infrastructure in Eastern Kenya in an effort to create instability and chaos in the country and pressure the government into withdrawing its troops from Somalia.
Back in 2016, al-Shabaab released a propaganda video depicting Kenyan fighters wearing pink socks in an unidentified location in Somalia. This provoked the Kenyan authorities to begin programs intended to counter violent extremism and ideologies. However, radicalisation has been hard to achieve as al-Shabaab has been able to recruit and mobilize support among Kenya’s Somali population, who have been marginalized and neglected by the Kenyan government. Kenya’s proximity to Somalia and the ease of crossing the border also makes it a convenient place for Al-Shabaab to operate from. Some of the known regions that the group targets for recruitment include Wajir, Mandera, Garissa and Lamu Counties due to their proximity to the border.
Image Credit: Feisal Omar/Reuters