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Kenya steps up surveillance on Al-Shabaab activities along border

Xinhua, September 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Kenyan police said on Wednesday they have stepped up surveillance on suspected Al-Shabaab activities across the border and their attempts to infiltrate the country to mount terror attacks.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett said security officers have witnessed and repulsed sporadic attempted terror attacks in the past month in areas such as Mandera and Wajir counties in northeast Kenya bordering Somalia.

"We are also closely monitoring the developing situation in Somalia that has seen a steady build-up of suspected Al-Shabaab fighters in the regions bordering Kenya," Boinnet said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

He said the militants' objective is to attack security installations and medical facilities along the border in an effort to loot arms and ammunition, drugs and other medical supplies.

Kenya blames Al-Shabaab for increased terror attacks and fears its tourist and business economy will be destroyed if it allows the insurgents to go on unchallenged.

The government also announced it is stepping up its naval patrols in the Indian Ocean in order to prevent militants coming into the country via the open waters.

Boinnet said counter-terrorism measures have led to sustainability of programs, projects, initiatives and reforms aimed at addressing the underlying factors and conditions that breed terrorism, radicalism and other criminal activities.

"The threat posed by the Al-Shabaab and other similar terror groups operating in the region remain our main focus and as such the police will not relent till the groups are totally neutralized," Boinnet said.

He said security agencies are well aware of Al-Shabaab operational plans of transporting militants in trucks to the common border and then infiltrate on foot into the country to carry out attacks.

"As such we call upon all citizens, more so, communities who reside within these border regions to be on the lookout for such individuals and to promptly inform the security agencies nearby," he said. Enditem