Kenya: Security Agencies on High Alert as Shabaab Sneak Into the Country

By Dominic Wabala

Security agencies are on high alert following reports that a group of al Shabaab returnees have sneaked into Kenya from Somalia.

They are planning attacks to avenge the killing of the group’s external operations boss Dan Garar.

Kenyan intelligence operatives have established that the group had been holed up in the port of Kuday in Southern Somalia.

They escaped into Kenya after Amisom and Somalia National Army troops liberated Kuday and islands of Mdoa and Dagazi last week.

The group, most of them of them Kenyan, are believed to be an al Shabaab off shoot that escaped into Boni Forest and is attempting to enter either Lamu, Malindi or Kwale.

The group is led by Luqman Issa, who goes by the aliases Deere and Shirwa. The group is said to be at Lakta Belt in Boni Forest.

Issa is believed to be responsible for a spate of attacks on Kenya Defence Forces troops and civilians in Kenya and Somalia’s Lower Juba area.

“The al Shabaab militia in Boni Forest have been responsible for a spate of attacks against KDF convoys and Coastal civilians. The militia in Boni Forest is comprised largely of militants from Coast including Lamu, Malindi and Mombasa,” an intelligence report says.

The report compiled last week reveals that families of communities at the Coast have appealed to the government to assist them bring back their sons, brothers and fathers who have been lured by al Shabaab to carry out attacks.