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| Picture courtesy of Al Jazeera |
Nicodemus M. Minde
Friday 28th
October 2012: Kenyan army says it has entered Somali port city of Kismayo
and captured an al-Shabab major military stronghold. “[Report that] Kismayo
fell today to KDF [Kenyan Defence Forces] and TFG [Somali government troops]
forces are indeed very true," Cyrus Oguna, military spokesman, told
Kenya's Citizen television. Oguna said that the troops had entered Kismayo
early on Friday. Kenya sent its troops into Somalia last October after the
fighters were blamed for a series of raids on Kenyan soil targeting its security forces as well as Western tourists.
Ever since the KDF entered Somalia, Kenya has faced reprisal
attacks many of which have been claimed by the Al Shabaab terror group. The implications
of the seizure of Kismayo means more attacks aimed at Kenya. The militia group
are notorious of grenade attacks aimed at religious targets mostly churches, entertainment
spots and other key strategic places. With a majority of Al Shabaab sympathizers
in Kenya mostly jobless youth who are radicalized by Islamic extremism, then it’s
certain that Kenya should embrace itself for more reprisal attacks in the
coming days.
While the security situation in Kenya is certainly not getting better any time soon, there are speculations that al shabab are in fact not behind the grenade attacks at religious targets in Kenya. these views are mostly backed by the reasoning that the style of attacks does not measure up to typical radicalized Islamic terrorist attacks.
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