- Many incidents have happened in January and there are fears terrorists could be planning similar ones.
- Security operations have been heightened as police boss Mutyambai asks for cooperation from the public.
Image: NPS
Security agencies in Kenya and Somalia have scrambled all strategies at their disposal to tame any planned attack by terrorist groups this month.
Officials aware of the issue say they fear the al Shabaab terror group could be planning to unleash an attack either locally or in Somalia.
The UK government on December 30 updated its warning to reflect attacks might occur anytime.
“Updated to reflect that terrorism attacks can occur at any time, including around religious or other public holidays or celebrations,” reads part of the update.
Counterterrorism experts said they were working around the clock to be sure all forms of threats are tamed.
This is given the past incidents that have happened in Kenya and Somalia and specifically in January.
For instance, on January 5, 2020, terrorists ran over Camp Simba, Manda Bay, in Lamu in a pre-dawn attack at Manda Air Strip.
The camp is used by Kenyan and US troops.
The raid began with an al Shabaab attack on the Manda Air Strip targeting a taxiing Beechcraft King Air 350 surveillance plane with RPGs. Three americans were killed in the attack.
On January 15, 2016, the battle for El Adde took place where an unknown number of Kenyan soldiers were killed in Gedo, Somalia.
This was after al Shabaab militants launched an attack on a Kenyan-run Amisom army base in the town and it remains the deadliest attack on the troops since KDF entered Somalia in October 2011.
On January 27, 2017 the battle for Kulbiyo erupted when the militants attacked and took control of the military base and town of Kulbiyow, held by the Somali Armed Forces and the Kenya Defence Forces.
On January 26, 2019, a blast took place along Latema Road, Nairobi, and injured at least one person. A suspect who dropped the blast at the scene was arrested in Isiolo.
On January 15, 2019, al Shabaab gunmen raided the DusitD2 complex in Nairobi in a siege and killed 21 people before they were all cornered and killed by responding teams.
This followed a swift reaction by the security teams that managed to push the attackers to a corner before they could cause more damage.
And following the string of attacks that seems to happen in January, officials said they had heightened their alertness to stop any plan for similar incidents.
“The level of alertness is high and we are scrambling all available resources to nip any bad plan,” said an official aware of the operations.
Operations have been heightened in parts of Lamu and Northeastern to address the threats.
Before the Christmas holidays, Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai urged Kenyans to continue being vigilant and report any suspicious activities that may jeopardize their security.
“I urge the public to support the police efforts by remaining vigilant, sharing information and reporting any incident to the nearest police post, station, any law enforcement officer or through the police hotline numbers 999, 112 and 0800 722 203.”
He also commended the degree of selflessness displayed in the line of duty by security officers in the face of the current global challenges like terrorism, radicalization and other transnational crimes.
Some of these challenges have resulted in injuries or loss of lives in the line of duty, he said.
Edited by Henry Makori