Al-Shabab Attacks U.S.
Military Airbase, Laying Destruction In Somalia &
Kenya
Three Americans Killed At Manda
Bay Airfield In Kenya, Part Of Series Of Attacks
(New York, N.Y.) – On January 5, 2020, Somali
terrorist group al-Shabab
launched an attack on a U.S. military airbase in Kenya, near the
country’s border with Somalia. The incursion at Manda Bay Airfield
killed one U.S. military service member and two American contractors
as well as five of the attackers. Six civilian aircrafts and three
military vehicles were destroyed before Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF)
and U.S. African Command began repelling the assailants. This was the
first al-Shabab attack against U.S. forces inside Kenya and marks a
notable escalation by the terrorist group.
Two other major attacks have also occurred this month. On January
7, al-Shabab militants opened fire near Saretho village in Garissa
county. The attackers killed four children and wounded three others
before being repelled by security forces. The assailants were
targeting a telecommunications mast. Kenyan authorities later claim to
have seized bomb-making materials following the attack. On January 8,
al-Shabab militants detonated a bomb at Sayidka junction, a security
checkpoint near the presidential palace and other government
buildings, in Mogadishu. The attack killed three and wounded 11
others. Al-Shabab issued a statement claiming responsibility for the
attack, stating that Somalia’s government has not fully secured
“Mogadishu’s major arteries.”
Kenya
has taken a lead role in supporting counterterrorism operations in Somalia,
despite having endured heavy losses of its own from terrorist attacks.
Al-Shabab is the most active extremist group in Kenya—primarily along
the country’s northern border with Somalia—and remains focused on
Kenyan targets. The Kenyan government has worked to prevent the flow
of foreign terrorist fighters, including Kenyan nationals, attempting
to join al-Shabab in Somalia or ISIS in Libya, Iraq, or Syria.
To read CEP’s Kenya resource, please click here.
To read CEP’s Somalia resource, please click here.
To read CEP’s al-Shabab resource, please click here.
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