Kenya: Three killed in al Shabaab attack

At least three men were beheaded and several houses torched on 18 August during an early morning raid on a village on the northern coast of Kenya by members of the Somali Islamist terror group, al Shabaab.

The gunmen reportedly struck Maleli Village in Lamu County at around 12.30am on 18 August, targeting men but sparing women and children. While villagers put the number killed in the raid at four, a local official has informed Kenyan media that three people died.

Similar overnight raids were perpetrated by al Shabaab on 7 July on Jima and Pandanguo villages, located near Maleli, in which nine men were beheaded. According to survivors, the militants only targeted non-Muslim men. Some villagers also claimed they had informed police that al Shabaab were in the area, but no action had been taken. These attacks occurred a matter of days after three police officers were killed in another nearby village.

A dusk to dawn curfew that was imposed in Lamu, Garissa and Tana River counties following the attacks on 7 July will now be in place for the next three months. Security forces are reported to be pursuing the assailants, who are believed to have hideouts and training grounds in the dense Boni Forest, which extends to the Somali border, and from where al Shabaab has launched attacks into the three counties.

Al Shabaab is reported to have set up permanent training bases in the Boni forest in mid-2012. Although there area is now surrounded by three army bases, according to a member of the local community, the group continues to cause “untold suffering” and is “having a field day inside the forest without any fear of the soldiers and the police.”

Since May, the terrorist group has ramped up attacks on Kenya. Over 50 people have been killed in ambushes or by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Garissa, Mandera, and Lamu, with many more injured. Several have also been abducted. On 31 May around 70 terrorists invaded Fafi town in Garissa County destroying a telecommunications mast, killing a Christian school teacher as she taught a class, and abducting a male Christian teacher along with a Muslim teacher who had tried to assist him. The Christian teacher was later found dead. According to Morning Star News, before leaving the school the militants beat up Muslims of Somali descent as a warning for “accommodating these infidels.”

During Kenya’s recent elections, al Shabaab released a series videos in Swahili and English and featuring Kenyan members of al Shabaab in which the group censured President Uhuru Kenyatta and his party, threatened to launch attacks to disrupt the elections, and called on Kenyan Muslims not to vote. However, the voting process went smoothly, and Kenyatta’s party won all of the predominantly Somali counties as well as the presidency.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s Senior Press Officer Kiri Kankhwende said, “We extend our deepest condolences to the families bereaved in this shocking attack. While we recognise the efforts of the security services in pursuing the perpetrators, it is deeply disturbing that al Shabaab is able to cause death and destruction, then retreat to the Boni Forest undetected despite a heavy military presence in the area. A curfew and other emergency measures must not take the place of longer-term security arrangements to guarantee the safety of civilians in the three affected counties and to rout al Shabaab from its hiding place. We urge the international community, and in particular the African Union, to offer technical assistance to the Kenyan authorities in order to overcome this terrorist threat.”