Al Shabab attack in northeast Kenya is deadliest since university massacre
Somalia-based Al Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack on a miners' camp in northern Kenya. The group continues to menace Kenya, which has sent troops into Somalia as part of an international peacekeeping effort.
Somalia-based Al Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack on a miners' camp in northern Kenya. The group continues to menace Kenya, which has sent troops into Somalia as part of an international peacekeeping effort.
Al Shabab militants killed fourteen people Tuesday in northeast Kenya, raising questions about Kenya鈥檚 capacity to respond to the Islamist group just weeks before a state visit by President Obama.聽
The gun and grenade attack took place at 2 a.m. at a residential complex for miners in the remote town of Soko Mbuzi in Mandera county, close to the Somali border, Reuters reports. 海角大神s appear to have been the main target, similar to an attack in the same area last December where 36 mostly 海角大神 miners were murdered.
鈥淎ll indications are that they were al-Shabab militants. They destroyed metal grilled doors before they bombed the houses and opened fire on the innocent victims,鈥� the county commissioner, Alex Ole Nkoyo,聽told the Standard newspaper聽in Nairobi. Eleven people were injured.
Somalia-based Al Shabab quickly claimed responsibility. Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab, Al Shabab's military operations spokesman, speaking on the group's main broadcaster, Radio Andalus, also said the killing was part of its Ramadan campaign against Kenya.
The attack comes three months after Al Shabab massacred 148 students at a university in Garissa, an attack seen as retribution campaign for Kenya's military intervention in Somalia. Kenya sent its troops to Somalia in October 2011 following a series of cross-border attacks by militants.聽
The group continues to attack towns in northern Kenya, highlighting the vulnerability of the border with Somalia, the Monitor reported in April:
Security remain a top priority for Kenya, especially with President Obama鈥檚 visit聽at the end of July. The Guardian reports that 鈥渢here are concerns militants could take advantage of the occasion to stage attacks.鈥� The US is co-hosting the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit and thousands are expected to attend.
Obama's security detail is sure to be tight, Foreign Policy reports, pointing that security for Obama's 2013 trip to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania cost between $60 million and $100 million.
With the attacks expected to continue, especially after the massacre in Garissa, many Kenyans have questioned the country鈥檚 involvement in Somalia, 鈥渆nding decades of relative neutrality," the Monitor reported.