Shabaab planning fresh attacks on Kenya.
The United States National Intelligence Director James Clapper on Wednesday warned that the Somali militants wanted to launch attacks on Kenya, Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Uganda because of their troop contributions to the Amisom peacekeeping force in Somalia.
He warned that a KDF airstrike early this month killed over 57 al Shabaab fighters in Gedo region and the militants were now planning a revenge attack in Kenya.He said that Kenya and other East African countries had improved their security and counter-terrorism efforts since the attack on the Westgate mall in September.“Nonetheless, East African governments will have difficulty protecting the wide range of potential targets,” Clapper warned. Clapper was giving his global threat assessment for 2014 to the US Senate intelligence committee in Washington.“The credibility and effectiveness of the young Somali government will be further threatened by persistent political infighting, weak leadership from President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, ill-equipped government institutions and pervasive technical, political and administrative shortfalls,” Clapper said.
Kenya is now rated by the American government as more insecure than the Democratic Republic of Congo. A week ago, the American embassy warned their citizens about impending attacks in Kenya following the killing of senior al Shabaab leaders in Somalia.On January 16 an Improvised Explosive Device exploded at Java House at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. No lives were lost because the bomb was placed in a steel dustbin that channelled upwards the explosion and ball bearings.
“Kenyan police have now publicly confirmed that Thursday's blast at JKIA was caused by an improvised explosive device. They have arrested three men in connection with this attempted attack. Yesterday, we heard, and the media are today reporting, an earlier discovery of smoke grenades in the toilets at the airport. These are only the latest, and most ambitious, in a series of IED and grenade attacks over the last month both in Nairobi and down at the Coast. Such attacks, whilst not explicitly directed at the UK or our staff, only serve to underline the potential for any of us to be caught up in a terrorist incidents. Such attacks are very hard to predict and it is therefore very unlikely we will be able to issue specific warnings,” stated a security advisory from the British High Commission.
The embassies warned that there remains a high threat from terrorism in Kenya from militants because of Kenya's military intervention in Somalia.
They warned that government offices and Somali government interests in Kenya might be targeted.
“Timing of the attack is not known, however, the source has reason to believe that the potential attack is in the last stages of planning. Staff should also remain alert in residential areas, and at outdoor recreational events. Avoid potential symbolic places e.g. Kencom, key installation (government installation) and crowded areas,” the UK report said. The report says that 300 al Shabaab members graduated shortly before the KDF attack and some might be deployed outside Somalia.
Clapper concluded that sub-Saharan Africa has become a hothouse for the emergence of extremist and rebel groups. Africa will “almost certainly see political and related security turmoil in 2014,” Clapper said.
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