Somali’s Al Shabaab group infiltrates mosques in Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya - Security forces in Kenya have stepped up a campaign to stop Somali-based terrorist group Al Shabaab from using Kenyan mosques as grounds for recruiting fighters in its bloody war against the interim government in Somalia. Kenyan administration official Ernest Munyi, the Coast Provincial Commissioner, said the Kenyan government was aware that several Mosques were recruitment grounds for the Al Shabaab fighters.“We know that there are some religious leaders who allow their grounds to be used to discuss the recruitment of worshipers after prayers,” Munyi said Tuesday.He appealed to women who knew mothers, whose sons have been recruited into the Al Shabaab, to contact the authorities “so we can get to talk to them on what is going on.'The official spoke following the arrest of five people suspected to have links with the Al Shabaab, which has been threatening to carry out terror attacks in Kenya.Police believe the five suspects had attended a terrorist training exercise in Kenya on the use and manufacture of explosives.The suspects were reportedly found in possession of bomb-making ingredients.Kenya coastal region, suspected to host terrorist training cells used by the Al Qaeda terrorist network, formerly led by the slain mastermind Osama bin Laden to plan its operations in East Africa, has emerged as a favourite hunting ground for terrorists.Recently, residents of Lamu town held public demonstrations against continuing recruitment of the Kenyan youth into the Al Shabaab ranks.At least 50 Al Shabaab recruits from Lamu and its environment have been killed in fighting in Somalia, local residents say.Meanwhile, the Kenyan parliamentary Defence Committee has summoned Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, Defence Minister Yusuf Hajji and the military Chief of Staff, General Jeremiah Kianga, to explain the state of security in Kenya.The three officials will be grilled by the parliamentary panel on the recent killing of 18 people in a border raid in northern Kenya.Ethiopian clan militia is believed to have killed as many as 40 Kenyans returning from a shopping spree in the Ethiopian part of the common border.Pana 11/05/2011