Kenya tightens security on porous Somalia border

GARISSA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenya has increased security on its porous desert border with Somalia ahead of an expected offensive by government forces there that could prompt hardline Islamist rebels to try and cross the frontier.
Al Shabaab insurgents who declared their loyalty to al Qaeda this week and want to impose a harsh version of sharia law on the Horn of Africa state, have controlled several small towns on the Somali side of the border since late last year.
Tensions are growing in the drought-ridden region, where jobs are scarce and both of Somalia's warring factions have been trawling Kenyan villages, seeking to recruit young fighters.
"We have deployed more troops and increased patrols along the border because the threat from the other side is higher now," Winston Murungi, district commissioner of Lagdera, told Reuters in an interview near the border.
Somalia has not had an effective government in almost two decades, and the Western-backed administration of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed controls little more than a few strategic blocks in the coastal capital Mogadishu...more..