Somali terrorist group, Al-Shabaab, said on Thursday that it was planning to attack Kenya during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins June 17. A senior al-Shabaab commander told reporters on condition of anonymity that they were planning to give Kenyan non-muslims a true taste of Jihad (the holy war) in the next few days and weeks.
In their threats, Al Shabaab continues to show religious intolerance, hatred, and a myopic approach to socio-economics.
*.It is therefore highly likely, worshipers will be targeted in their place of worship.
*.Police officers and their camps will also face attacks, particularly in remote areas, and also in townships.
*.Military personnel and their bases, camps, and convoys are key targets.
*.Key figures in government are also targets. (Recent spate of assassinations in Somalia maybe replicated).
*.The Mombasa-Nairobi highway is a critical target, particularity along stretches in the Tsavo national park. It is important to note that Al Shabaab has suffered defeats and many of their terror attacks targeting city malls have been effectively disrupted, as such, they will opt the unlikely targets such as County Government headquarters, police stations or critical aspects of national security, economy, or national unity.
During the month of may 2015, Kenya's Intelligence conducted surveillance on “Terrorists High Dimensional Communication Networks ‘THDCN'” and detected critical threats on both civilian and government officials, besides security officers.
“Al Shabaab has 2 affiliates in Kenya.
Each affiliate in the past 1 and half month has exhibited character often used in intelligence analysis metrics to forecast terrorists behavior before attacks.
”“In our assessment, we found critical threats from Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen. The threats were communicated after the Islamists used trusted external messengers to propagate information. Summarily, it is credible to report that our social network metrics which are adequately defined to observe hidden terrorist groups, found the bias” Says David Goldman, Director of Intelligence.
Solutions
* Increasing security around installations of importance to the country, malls, churches, schools, and entertainment spots should be enacted, besides all security routines changed to ensure response to an attack is adequate to neutralize the threat.
* All citizens must also be vigilant. Terrorists may have identified areas and established outposts to conduct surveillance on targets besides put up strategic attack infrastructure.
