Published On: Sun, Apr 5th, 2015

Kenya Responds to al Shabaab Attack

Somalia's al Shabaab militants.

Somalia’s al Shabaab militants.

Three days after the massacre of 148 students from Garissa University College in Kenya, the country’s air force struck back to al Shabaab.

According to a report, they’ve managed to destroy two terrorist camps in Somalia. Leaders of al Shabaab denied this, saying that the air strike destroyed two farms nearby.

David Obonyo, spokesman of Kenya Defence Forces, said that the air strike hit the Gedo region near border of Kenya. These camps have caused trouble for quite some time and according to Mr Obonyo they were destroyed immediately.

Al Qaeda-aligned group al Shabaab already killed over 400 people in Kenya since 2013. The biggest attack prior to Thursday happened in 2013 in Nairobi’s Westgate mall where terrorist killed 67 civilians.

Islam militants are spread across the 700 kilometer border with Somalia where Kenyan forces can’t effectively stop weapon smuggling, drug trafficing and killings. The situation has also caused a significant drop in tourist visits and investments in Kenya.

The muslim community in Kenya was once again asked to stop radicalization in their group and were warned that the government won’t tolerate tragedies like the one in Garissa anymore. Also, the government is planning to make a list of every suspect that joined the extremist group anywhere near the Somalian border.

There is also the deeply concerning fact that one of the four gunman who killed students in Garissa was the son of a Kenyan official. He was reported missing, but as it seems he willingly crossed to Somalia to join al Shabaab’s forces. He was killed along with the other three gunmen in Sunday’s attack.

Locals said the people of Kenya are rattled and angry, “they want justice and the stop of mindless killings of innocent people”. One of the bereaved parents said that this is the government’s fault “The security services waited too long and the terrorists had so much time to kill our kids.”

Opposition leader RailaOdinga suggested pulling out Kenyan troops from Somalia just as US forces did in 1993 after the Black Hawk Down incident. However, the Kenyan government has no plan of doing such thing. Backed with UN forces, the African Union peacekeeping mission hass been fighting Islamists in Somalia since 1998. The official stance of the government is that pulling forces out of Somalia will diminish chances of stopping terrorist actions.

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