Al Shabaab launched 26 attacks in Kenya last year, with security agents bearing the brunt.
The Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies report shows the attacks killed 58 people, of whom 41 were security officers and 17 civilians. The attacks were mostly in the border towns of the country, with Mandera recording the highest toll.
The 2018 tally shows there was a reduction in attacks compared to the previous year. In 2017, 49 attacks were recorded, with 108 fatalities.
“This represents a 47 per cent reduction of the number of reported attacks, and 46 decrease in the number of fatalities,” the report by CHRIPS reads.
The report on Trends of Violent Extremist Attacks and Arrests in Kenya 2017 to December 2018 shows Mandera had seven attacks, whereas Lamu had eight. “The highest number of fatalities in a single incident was the killing of eight KDF soldiers along the Kenya-Somalia border in Garissa county on May 6, 2018,” the report says.
“Similarly, in Wajir county eight security officers ( five AP and three police reservists) were killed on June 17.”
Of the 41 security officers killed, 18 were KDF soldiers, five GSU, nine APs, seven police reservists and two unspecified security officials. Contrastingly in 2017, there were more civilian fatalities than security and government officers, the trend analysis that relied major on media reports shows.
The highest number of attacks was recorded in January, with six, closely followed by July with four attacks.
Although the majority of the attacks were attributed to al Shabaab, the report notes the group has to claim responsibility to some of the attacks making it unclear of who the perpetrator was.